Stability for the European structural biology research infrastructure
In July 2017 The European Commission has granted the pan-European research infrastructure Instruct the ERIC status, which stands for European Research Infrastructure Consortium. Instruct provides access to specialist research infrastructures for structural biology at different centers across Europe. In Finland the Instruct-FI structural biology network of Biocenter Finland is interacting in many ways with the Instruct structural biology community. At the moment the four major structural biology centers in Finland (Helsinki, Oulu, Joensuu, Turku) are preparing an application to the Instruct council to become accepted as a distributed Instruct Centre. Helsinki will be the national hub. Oulu coordinates the participation of Instruct-FI in iNEXT and Instruct-ULTRA. The FIRI committee of the Academy of Finland has agreed that Finland joins Instruct providing the Finnish life science researchers with funded access to the major structural biology centers in Europe. Access to Instruct facilities across Europe is essential to use large instruments, like X-ray synchrotrons and modern cryo-electron microscopes that cannot be built and maintained in all countries, but also to maintain a collaborative scientific culture that allows the dissemination of scientific expertise and methodological innovations across different laboratories. Instruct also fosters joint translational research efforts between academia and biotech to ensure the implementation of new technologies for more sustainable processes and better human health.