MicrobioRaman: an open-access web repository for microbiological Raman spectroscopy data

Abstract

Here we present the establishment of an open-access web-based repository for microbiological Raman spectroscopy data. The data collection, called ‘MicrobioRaman’ (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/MicrobioRaman/studies), was inspired by the great success and usefulness of research databases such as GenBank and UniProt. This centralized repository, residing within the BioStudies database1 — which is maintained by a public institution, the European Bioinformatics Institute — minimizes the risk of data loss or eventual abandonment, offering a long-term common reference for analysis with advantages in accessibility and transparency over commercial data analysis tools. We feel that MicrobioRaman will provide a foundation for this growing field by serving as an open-access repository for sharing microbiological Raman data and through the codification of a set of reporting standards.