A FAIR road to a bioAFM databank

Pellequer JL, Aguayo S, Alessandrini A, Alsteens D, Ando T, Beaussart A, Betton M, Betz T, Blank KG, Bovio S, Campillo C, Canale C, Cartagena-Rivera AX, Carvalho FA, Casuso I, Charras G, Checa M, Collins L, Colom A, Costa L, Dague E, Dahms TE, de Pablo PJ, Delvallée A, Dinarelli S, Dougan L, Dufrêne YF, Dumitru AC, Efremov YM, El-Kirat-Chatel S, Facci P, Fantner GE, Payam AF, Feuillie C, Flors C, Forde N, Formosa-Dague C, Francius G, Franz CM, Franze K, Garcia R, Garcia-Manyes S, Gavara N, Giannotti MI, Girasole M, Guthold M, Heath GR, Heu C, Hinterdorfer P, Hobbs JK, Hoogenboom BW, Janel S, Kellermayer M, Klapetek P, Kodera N, Koehler M, Lafont F, Lamour G, Landoulsi J, Laurent VM, Leclère P, Lekka M, Li H, Longo G, Marchesi A, Mathelié-Guinlet M, Meininger GA, Mela I, Milhiet PE, Millan-Solsona R, Mišić Radić T, Molinari M, Moreno-Herrero F, Nash MA, Noël O, Oh YJ, Pasquina-Lemonche L, Patil S, Pedraz P, Pêgo AP, Perkins TT, Pesl M, Pham TT, Picas L, Podestà A, Preiner J, Přibyl J, Proksch R, Puech PH, Pyne AL, Radmacher M, Redondo-Morata L, Rico F, Roos WH, Ros R, Santos NC, Sarkans U, Schäffer TE, Schillers H, Shao Z, Sicard D, Simonsen AC, Sokolov I, Sousa SR, Stokke BT, Stylianou A, Szymonski M, Tama F, Thomson NH, Uchihashi T, Vassalli M, Verdier C, Vial A, Vié V, Zambelli T, Zenobi R, Zheng P, Valotteau C (2026)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2026

Journal

DOI: 10.1038/s41592-026-03214-7

Abstract

In this Comment, we direct attention to initial efforts to establish a high-quality databank of atomic force microscopy (AFM) data: bioAFM-DB. We outline the state of this endeavor, its challenges, and potential courses of action.

Involved external institutions

Instituto Biofisika Institutoa (IBF) Spain (ES) Centre de Biochimie Structurale (CBS) France (FR) Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées France (FR) Istituto di struttura della materia (ISM) Italy (IT) Wake Forest University United States (USA) (US) University of Leeds United Kingdom (GB) Rudjer Boskovic Institute (RBI) / Institut Ruđer Bošković (IRB) Croatia (HR) The European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) United Kingdom (GB) University of Grenoble Alpes (UGA) / Université de Grenoble France (FR) Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Chile (CL) Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE) Italy (IT) Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) Belgium (BE) Kanazawa University / 金沢大学 Japan (JP) Université de Bordeaux France (FR) Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique (LIPhy) / Interdisciplinary Physics Laboratory France (FR) Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Germany (DE) Johannes Kepler Universität (JKU) Linz Austria (AT) Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCB) France (FR) University of Évry Val d'Essonne / Université d'Évry Val-d'Essonne (UEVE) France (FR) University of Genova / Università degli Studi di Genova Italy (IT) National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) United States (USA) (US) Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência Portugal (PT) Aix-Marseille University / Aix-Marseille Université France (FR) London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) United Kingdom (GB) Oak Ridge National Laboratory United States (USA) (US) University of Regina Canada (CA) Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) Spain (ES) Laboratoire National de Métrologie et d'Essais (LNE) France (FR) I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University Russian Federation (RU) Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) / National Research Council of Italy Italy (IT) École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Switzerland (CH) University of Ulster United Kingdom (GB) IMDEA-Nanociencia Spain (ES) Simon Fraser University Canada (CA) Université de Strasbourg (UDS) France (FR) Max-Planck-Institut für die Physik des Lichts (MPL) / Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light Germany (DE) Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM) Spain (ES) Universitat de Barcelona (UB) / University of Barcelona Spain (ES) University of New South Wales (UNSW) Australia (AU) University of Sheffield United Kingdom (GB) Université de Lille (ULille, UDL) France (FR) Semmelweis University / Semmelweis Egyetem Hungary (HU) Czech Metrology Institute / Český Metrologický Institut (CMI) Czech Republic (CZ) Technische Universität München (TUM) Germany (DE) Sorbonne Université France (FR) University of Mons / Université de Mons Belgium (BE) Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences / Instytut Fizyki Jądrowej im. Henryka Niewodniczańskiego Polskiej Akademii Nauk Poland (PL) University of British Columbia Canada (CA) Università Politecnica delle Marche (UNIVPM) / Marche Polytechnic University Italy (IT) Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center United States (USA) (US) University of Cambridge United Kingdom (GB) CNB - Centro Nacional de Biotecnología Spain (ES) Universität Basel Switzerland (CH) Institut des Molécules et Matériaux du Mans (IMMM) France (FR) Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER) - Pune India (IN) Universidade do Porto Portugal (PT) Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) United States (USA) (US) Masaryk University Czech Republic (CZ) Nazarbayev University / Назарбаев Университеті Kazakhstan (KZ) Institut de Recherche en Infectiologie de Montpellier (IRIM) France (FR) Università degli studi di Milano Italy (IT) Fachhochschule Oberösterreich (FH OÖ) / University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria Austria (AT) Adhesion and Inflammation Lab (LAI) / Laboratoire Adhésion et inflammation (LAI) France (FR) Universität Bremen Germany (DE) University of Groningen / Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Netherlands (NL) Arizona State University (ASU) United States (USA) (US) Shanghai Jiao Tong University / 上海交通大学 China (CN) Sorbonne Paris North University / Université Sorbonne Paris Nord / Université Paris 13 France (FR) University of Southern Denmark / Syddansk Universitet Denmark (DK) Tufts University United States (USA) (US) NTNU Trondheim - Norwegian University of Science and Technology Norway (NO) European University Cyprus (EUC) / Ευρωπαϊκό Πανεπιστήμιο Κύπρου Cyprus (CY) Jagiellonian University / Uniwersytet Jagielloński (UJ) Poland (PL) RIKEN Center for Computational Science Japan (JP) Nagoya University / 名古屋大学 Japan (JP) University of Glasgow United Kingdom (GB) Université de Rennes 1 / University of Rennes 1 France (FR) Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ) / Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich Switzerland (CH) Nanjing University China (CN) Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen Germany (DE) Universität Münster (ehem. Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität (WWU)) Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Pellequer, J.L., Aguayo, S., Alessandrini, A., Alsteens, D., Ando, T., Beaussart, A.,... Valotteau, C. (2026). A FAIR road to a bioAFM databank. Nature Methods. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-026-03214-7

MLA:

Pellequer, Jean Luc, et al. "A FAIR road to a bioAFM databank." Nature Methods (2026).

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