foundingGIDE Milestone: Deliverables September 2025
September 2025 marks an important moment for foundingGIDE as the project releases four major deliverables that lay the foundation for global interoperability of biological and preclinical imaging data. Together, these reports provide a strategic framework for harmonizing metadata, aligning imaging ontologies, and strengthening engagement across international imaging communities.
D2.1 Landscape analysis of existing ontologies and recommendations on a set of imaging ontologies
Imaging technologies evolve at a rapid pace, pushing the limits of metadata standardization. D2.1 offers the first comprehensive review of the ontology landscape relevant to both biological and preclinical imaging. The deliverable identifies existing ontologies, evaluates their suitability, and provides recommendations for how they can be used to harmonize metadata across repositories. These guidelines serve not only foundingGIDE’s internal alignment efforts, but also provide actionable advice for data producers.
D4.1 Report on the recommended ontologies for preclinical image datasets and technologies
Preclinical imaging is expanding rapidly, producing increasingly complex datasets through advanced modalities and molecular probes. However, the ability to generate rich imaging data has outpaced our ability to make these datasets discoverable and reusable. D4.1 addresses this challenge by analyzing the multidimensional nature of preclinical imaging and evaluating the ontologies that can best describe its varied domains, from anatomical to functional and molecular data. By applying a set of carefully defined evaluation criteria, the deliverable proposes a recommended suite of ontologies that can support improved findability and metadata consistency. This work forms an essential building block for making preclinical imaging data FAIR across repositories and research infrastructures.
D6.1: Report in metadata model overlap and gaps
To build a truly interoperable global imaging ecosystem, metadata must align across major repositories. D6.1 examines the metadata models of three key resources: the BioImage Archive (BIA), Image Data Resource (IDR), and SSBD:database. The analysis highlights both overlaps and gaps, identifying which elements and ontologies require harmonization. The deliverable also explores concrete data reuse scenarios, identifying the metadata components necessary for meaningful reuse, from experimental context to controlled vocabularies. Finally, it provides milestones for BIA, IDR, and SSBD to work toward metadata harmonization, while exploring future-proof approaches for sustainable metadata management and integration.
D9.1 First report on external GIDE network engagement
Interoperability is not only a technical challenge, it is a community effort. D9.1 documents foundingGIDE’s progress in engaging biological and preclinical imaging communities through outreach, workshops, and coordination activities. Engagement has also extended to data managers, metadata experts, data-holding organizations, and research infrastructures working on related challenges. Through these interactions, foundingGIDE is creating a strong external network that fosters knowledge exchange, alignment of terminology and practices, and shared momentum around data standards. Community engagement remains a continuous process, essential for building a sustainable and widely adopted interoperability framework.