Mariska Bierkens

I have a background as a molecular biologist working on (epi)genetic alterations underlying disease development. After finishing my PhD (2013) on ‘Genomic profiling of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia’ I started working as power-user for the Center for Translational Molecular Medicine, Translational Research-IT (CTMM-TraIT) project in the group of prof. dr. Gerrit Meijer (currently at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam). In December 2017, this project, together with various other research infrastructure projects within the Netherlands launched the Dutch Health Research Infrastructure (Health-RI) initiative, which aims to facilitate researchers in performing research in both a FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and an ELSI (Ethical, Legal & Social Implications) compliant manner (see health-ri.org/services for more information). Health-RI is an initiative in which the Dutch national nodes of BBMRI, EATRIS and ELIXIR work together with national initiatives such as TraIT, DTL, Data4Lifesciences and the Parelsnoer Institute (String of Pearls) to create a single one-stop-shop for researchers to get access to data, images and samples, and to provide researchers with the required best practices and applications, facilitating them to perform more effective personalized medicine research.

Currently I am involved in multiple local and (inter)national efforts related to project data management – working towards FAIR data, with a strong focus on using existing solutions.