INFRAFRONTIER GmbH

The INFRAFRONTIER GmbH was created as a non-profit organisation to coordinate the transnational acitivities of the INFRAFRONTIER Research Infrastructure. It is seated in Germany at the Helmholtz Zentrum München. The establishment of the INFRAFRONTIER GmbH is based on a Memorandum of Understanding signed by Germany, France, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).

The founding members of the INFRAFRONTIER GmbH are the Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France, the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic, the University of Oulu, Finland, and the Biological Research Center ‘Alexander Fleming’, Greece. In 2020 the Karolinska Institutet from Sweden joined the INFRAFRONTIER GmbH. These organisations are mandated by their national research ministries to participate in the coordination activities of the INFRAFRONTIER GmbH.

The INFRAFRONTIER GmbH provides central access to all the services of the INFRAFRONTIER Research Infrastructure via the INFRAFRONTIER website. It improves access for the users of the INFRAFRONTIER Research Infrastructure by building capacities for systemic phenotyping, archiving and distribution of mouse models and by providing an efficient and transparent access process, based on peer-evaluated scientific excellence. The involvement and financial commitment of the Members States adds a new level of financial sustainability and planning reliability for the National INFRAFRONTIER Partners. At the same time, National INFRAFRONTIER Partners retain full flexibility in the allocation of capacities to the INFRAFRONTIER Research Infrastructure. The coordination activities of the INFRAFRONTIER GmbH ensure that existing capacities are utilised in the most efficient way, saving costs by avoiding duplication of efforts and by creating synergies. The INFRAFRONTIER GmbH was established on 11 April 2013 in Munich. The Managing Directors of the INFRAFRONTIER GmbH are Prof. Martin Hrabé de Angelis and Daniela Sommer of the Helmholtz Zentrum München. The INFRAFRONTIER Council, the representation of all the INFRAFRONTIER GmbH Members, is currently chaired by Prof. Reetta Hinttala, representative of the University of Oulu, and Prof. Urban Lendahl, representative of the Karolinska Institutet, is Vice-Chair of the Council.