The European Genomic Data Infrastructure (GDI) project, worth 40 million euros, was launched in 2022. The project involves 20 European Union (EU) countries with the aim of creating a cross-border platform for the collection of genomic data for biomedical research and individualized medical solutions, and among the partners is The Laboratory for Advanced Genomics of the Ruđer Bošković Institute (IRB) as a representative of the Republic of Croatia. The project is financed by the funds of the European Commission through the Digital Europe Program and by the countries participating in the project.

The goal of the GDI project is to create a federated, sustainable and secure European digital platform for storing genomic data, with the help of which authorized users such as clinicians, researchers and innovators will be able to better understand genomics and improve and accelerate the process of diagnosis, treatment and predictive medicine.

As part of the four-year implementation of the IRB Laboratory for Advanced Genomics project, under the leadership of Ph.D. Oliver Vugrek, will employ a postdoctoral student who will work on the implementation of the project, and the Laboratory will have the opportunity to connect with the most prestigious organizations throughout the EU and improve its own competencies.

The GDI project is based on three pillars. The goal of the first step is to ensure the long-term sustainability of the project by creating a management and legal framework and a business model. The second pillar will ensure interoperability and data sharing at the European level, and the third pillar will ensure the implementation of the project through key examples in practice.

The establishment of a genomic data infrastructure will improve public health and benefit European citizens, health systems and economies.

The Croatian GDI node – live and public

The Laboratory for Advanced Genomics at IRB has set up the Croatian node of the GDI infrastructure. The node is publicly accessible and runs two Beacons (GA4GH Beacon v2 standard) and a FAIR Data Point:

• Allele-frequency Beacon – search variants through a web interface: af-beacon.gdi-croatia-node.org
• Subject-level Beacon (API): gdi-croatia-node.org/api – individual records are available only to users who log in with LS-AAI and have approved access in REMS
• FAIR Data Point – metadata on the node's datasets and services: gdi-croatia-node.org

The node currently serves the 1+MG synthetic test dataset (COVID-19), with about 84.7 million variant records. No real data has been loaded.