Highlights from the 2016-2020 NEUBIAS training schools for Bioimage Analysts: a success story and key asset for analysts and life scientists

Gabriel Martins (1) , Fabrice Cordelières (2) , Julien Colombelli (3) , Rocco D’antuono (4) , Ofra Golani (5) , Romain Guiet (6) , Robert Haase (7) , Anna Klemm (8) , Marion Louveaux (9, 10) , Perrine Paul-Gilloteaux (11, 12) , Jean-Yves Tinevez (10) , Kota Miura (13)

1 IGC - Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência [Oeiras]
2 BIC - Bordeaux Imaging Center
3 IRB - Institute for Research in Biomedicine [Barcelona, Spain]
4 The Francis Crick Institute [London]
5 Weizmann Institute of Science [Rehovot, Israël]
6 EPFL - Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
7 University of Tübingen
8 Uppsala University
9 IAH - Hub d'analyse d'images - Image Analysis Hub (Platform)
10 BIA - Analyse d'images biologiques - Biological Image Analysis
11 ITX - ITX - unité de recherche de l'institut du thorax
12 SFR François Bonamy - Structure fédérative de recherche François Bonamy
13 Universität Heidelberg [Heidelberg] = Heidelberg University

NEUBIAS, the European Network of Bioimage Analysts, was created in 2016 with the goal of improving the communication and the knowledge transfer among the various stakeholders involved in the acquisition, processing and analysis of biological image data, and to promote the establishment and recognition of the profession of Bioimage Analyst. One of the most successful initiatives of the NEUBIAS programme was its series of 15 training schools, which trained over 400 new Bioimage Analysts, coming from over 40 countries. Here we outline the rationale behind the innovative three-level program of the schools, the curriculum, the trainer recruitment and turnover strategy, the outcomes for the community and the career path of analysts, including some success stories. We discuss the future of the materials created during this programme and some of the new initiatives emanating from the community of NEUBIAS-trained analysts, such as the NEUBIAS Academy. Overall, we elaborate on how this training programme played a key role in collectively leveraging Bioimaging and Life Science research by bringing the latest innovations into structured, frequent and intensive training activities, and on why we believe this should become a model to further develop in Life Sciences.

Mots clés: NEUBIAS; training schools; bioimage analysis; analyst; workshop; training materials; Analyst school

Domaines: Imagerie; Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]

Gabriel Martins, Fabrice Cordelières, Julien Colombelli, Rocco D’antuono, Ofra Golani, et al.. Highlights from the 2016-2020 NEUBIAS training schools for Bioimage Analysts: a success story and key asset for analysts and life scientists. F1000Research, 2021, 10, pp.334. ⟨10.12688/f1000research.25485.1⟩. ⟨hal-03214896⟩