CORE TECHNOLOGIES FOR LIFE SCIENCES

Their core work

CTLS is a Paris-based association operating in the research infrastructure ecosystem, with a focus on core facilities — the shared scientific platforms (microscopy, genomics, proteomics, etc.) that serve research communities in life sciences. Their EU project participation reveals two distinct contributions: helping build pan-European catalogues of research infrastructure services, and developing professional training programmes for research infrastructure personnel including management education and community-of-practice models. They bring practitioner knowledge of how core facilities are run, staffed, and made accessible to researchers across institutions. For a consortium addressing open science infrastructure, they represent the operational and human-capacity perspective that pure technology partners typically lack.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 project (CatRIS, 2019-2021), CTLS focused on the structural side of research infrastructure — mapping what services exist and making them discoverable via online catalogues. By their second project (RItrainPlus, 2021-2025), the focus shifted inward to the human layer: training the people who run these facilities, building management competencies, and sustaining professional communities. This is a logical deepening — from 'what infrastructure exists' to 'how do we build the capacity to manage it well.'

CTLS is moving from infrastructure mapping toward professional development and governance for research infrastructure managers — a growing policy priority as core facilities become central to open science agendas across Europe.

How they like to work

CTLS participates exclusively as a partner, never as a project coordinator, suggesting they contribute specialist or practitioner expertise rather than driving large initiatives. Their two projects placed them within broad consortia (24 unique partners across 14 countries), indicating comfort working in complex multi-country settings without carrying the coordination burden. For a future collaborator, this means CTLS is a reliable specialist contributor — they bring focused expertise but will not take on project management overhead.

Despite only two projects, CTLS has connected with 24 unique partners across 14 countries, reflecting the broad pan-European consortia typical of research infrastructure coordination actions. Their network is embedded in the European research infrastructure community rather than centred on any single national ecosystem.

What sets them apart

CTLS occupies a specific and underserved niche: the operational and professional side of research infrastructure management, particularly core facilities in life sciences. Unlike universities that theorise about infrastructure policy or large institutes that build the facilities themselves, CTLS appears to bring practitioner-level knowledge of how shared platforms are actually staffed, trained, and made sustainable. For a consortium building a project around open science infrastructure, they offer the 'people and operations' perspective that complements technology-focused partners.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CatRIS
  The larger of their two projects (EUR 125,000 EC contribution), CatRIS built a pan-European online catalogue of research infrastructure services — a foundational discoverability tool for open science.
• RItrainPlus
  A longer-running project (2021-2025) developing structured training and management education for research infrastructure professionals, including a school-of-management model and community-of-practice framework.