ELN-driven Interoperability for Metadata
HMC FAIR Friday
Speaker: Nicole Jung, Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT), Martin Starman, Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) and Martin Held (Helmholtz Centre Hereon)
Title: HMC Project ELN-DIY-Meta: Electronic Notebook-Driven Interoperability for Metadata
Date: Friday, 13 February 2026, 10 am
Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELNs) have become indispensable tools for modern research laboratories, facilitating data management, collaboration, and documentation of scientific experiments. While for some scientific areas, the use of generic, discipline agnostic and therefore broadly applicable ELNs is suitable to manage all relevant digital processes, other disciplines in particular in natural sciences and materials sciences need ELNs dedicated to the specific research requirements. In the latter case, institutions intending to provide a suitable portfolio of ELNs face several challenges, one of them is the missing option to seamlessly exchange data between different systems. Given the increasing number of scientists using ELNs and their reliance on discipline-specific platforms, a solution to overcome the current limitation related to ELN interoperability is important for ELN users and institutions offering different ELN platforms.
In this session, we present ELNdataBridge, a server-based solution designed to address this challenge by providing a flexible adapter for interfacing and synchronising data between disparate ELN platforms. ELNdataBridge leverages Python APIs to interact with the underlying data structures of various ELN systems, enabling smooth transfer of information between them. The system offers a user-friendly interface that allows researchers to map and configure the transfer of single values and entry types between different ELNs, thereby facilitating interoperability and data exchange. The suitability and efficiency of the developed software was shown by a first demonstrator, enabling the exchange of data from Chemotion ELN and Herbie, and therewith the connection of information with a focus on chemistry and materials sciences.
About the project: The HMC project ELN-DIY-Meta, which stands for "ELN-Driven Interoperability for Metadata," is a joint project of the Helmholtz Centres KIT and Hereon. It was funded as part of the HMC project cohort 2021 and was successfully completed in 2024. Since then, the team members have been working together on various topics, such as HMC projects and the Virtual Lab MDMC. Their common goal is to improve ELN functionalities and interoperability. The team members include Nicole Jung (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology - Institute for Biological and Chemical Systems), Martin Starman (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology – Institute for Biological and Chemical Systems), Martin Held (Helmholtz Centre Hereon – Institute for Instrumental Structural Analysis Geesthacht), Catriona Eschke (Helmholtz Centre Hereon – Institute for Metallic Biomaterials), Severin Gescher (Helmholtz Centre Hereon – Institute for Metallic Biomaterials) and Fabian Kirchner (Helmholtz Centre Hereon – Institute for Metallic Biomaterials).
Registration open until 13. February 2025, 09:45 am: https://events.hifis.net/event/2868
(For organizational reasons, we cannot guarantee participation for registrations after 09:45 am)
The Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration (HMC) invites you to engage in an exciting series of talks on FAIR Data through the HMC FAIR Friday lecture series. Renowned experts from around the world will present key aspects of FAIR data, offering deep dives into the topic and sparking discussions on best practices and new perspectives. HMC FAIR Friday is aimed at professionals in research data management as well as researchers from all disciplines of the Helmholtz Association and beyond, who want to learn more about the importance and implementation of FAIR principles.
