Committees & Working Groups

The structure of IHEC is based on a distributed organizational model—an approach that has proven successful in other international genomics initiatives. This model facilitates interaction between funding agencies (which provide oversight), a scientific steering body (which sets guidelines), and participating scientific institutions (including data production centers and regional or national-level coordination and analysis centers).

Since its launch in 2010, the consortium has evolved in response to emerging priorities and ongoing core activities. This evolution is reflected in the shifting thematic focus of the working groups over time. In 2023, the IHEC Executive Committee was merged with the International Scientific Steering Committee to streamline governance and enhance coordination across the consortium.

IHEC now consists of a unified steering committee and several working groups. Each group brings together international experts and key stakeholders, contributing to IHEC’s collaborative, interdisciplinary approach. Current working groups typically meet virtually on a monthly basis. Details about the responsibilities and membership of both current and past groups are provided below.

IHEC International Scientific Steering Committee

The International Scientific Steering Committee provides strategic direction and scientific oversight for IHEC, guiding consortium priorities, setting technical and ethical standards, and coordinating collaborative efforts across member organizations.

Current Working Groups

Integrative Analysis

The Integrative Analysis Working Group focuses on tools for epigenomics data analyses and the results of data integration projects. The group aims to foster collaboration through method sharing and open discussion, with meetings typically featuring rotating presentations from the various IHEC member consortia. A recent focus of the committee’s efforts is the EpiATLAS project, which aims to integrate and harmonize epigenomic data to enable deeper insights into human health and disease.

Metadata Harmonization

The Metadata Harmonization Working Group IHEC was tasked with addressing the challenges of metadata standardization and harmonization across multiple international epigenomics projects. This involves

Developing Metadata Standards:
1. Creating a checklist of essential metadata properties for reference epigenomes
2. Ensuring consistency across member projects
Harmonizing Metadata Across Projects:
1. Tackling inconsistencies in metadata formats, terminologies, and ontologies.
2. Using tools like OpenRefine for collaborative, trackable, and reproducible metadata editing.
3. Merging synonymous fields and standardized terms (e.g., unifying “B cell”, “B-cell”, “B lymphocyte”).
Establishing a Central Registry (EpiRR):
1. Maintaining and contributing to a centralized registry for reference epigenomes with unique, versioned identifiers.
2. Providing unified access to sample metadata and links to raw data.
Collaborative Editing and Review:
1. Organizing metadata jamborees to discuss and resolve harmonization issues.
2. Using GitHub for issue tracking, documentation, and version control of metadata edits.
Ontology Integration:
1. Mapping metadata terms to appropriate ontologies (e.g., Cell Ontology, Uberon).
2. Using the EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service (OLS) to resolve CURIEs and ontology terms.
Quality Control and Validation:
1. Performing analysis to detect metadata inconsistencies.
Ensuring Reproducibility and Provenance:
1. Exporting all changes in JSON format for full traceability and reproducibility

Past Working Groups

IHEC Executive Committee

Oversight of IHEC was provided by an Executive Committee (EXEC), constituted of individuals nominated by the IHEC Funding Members. In 2023, this committee merged with the International Scientific Steering Committee.

Assay Standards & Data Ecosystem

The Assay Standards & Data Ecosystem Working Group’s mandate was to define the assays required for a reference epigenome, standardized protocols and quality control (QC) metrics, and standardized analysis pipelines. In addition, the group coordinated with IHEC members to establish methods and standards for sharing both raw and processed data.

Bioethics

The Bioethics Working Group was composed of a multidisciplinary team of researchers interested in the relationship between epigenetic science, ethics, and policy.

Communications

The Communications working group's mandate was to coordinate the communication activities between the committees and the working groups, as well as ensuring that IHEC activities and achievements were communicated effectively to the rest of the community and the wider public.