From RDA Recommendations to an Immune Digital Twin Portal Prototype: Adopting BIDT WG Outputs through the RDA TIGER Cascading Grant
Adoption Factsheet
Outputs Adopted: Building Immune Digital Twins (BIDT) WG Final Recommendation (best-practices and guidance framework), BIDT WG model curation and metadata guidance (including FAIR-aligned cataloguing and annotation practices developed across the WG outputs), BIDT WG resource integration approach (literature repository + model repository/catalogue + recommendation document as interoperable community assets)
Related RDA Groups: Building Immune Digital Twins (BIDT) WG
Adopter: BIDT WG & University of Toulouse (RDA TIGER Cascading Grant implementation context, as host institution of the WG co-chair who lead this implementation).
The RDA Output adopted
The RDA Working Group Building Immune Digital Twins (BIDT) developed a set of practical, FAIR-aligned resources and recommendations to support the development, curation, sharing, and reuse of Immune Digital Twins (IDTs), including: (1) a curated literature repository, (2) ImmunoGit (a model repository and metadata catalogue), and (3) a best-practices recommendation document covering standards, ontologies, curation, modelling approaches, and policy/ethics/regulatory aspects.
Through the RDA TIGER Cascading Grant, these outputs were adopted in implementation by translating the WG recommendations into the design and development requirements of a digital portal prototype (interactive dashboard) intended to serve as the central entry point for BIDT resources, activities, and future infrastructure. The portal prototype operationalised key principles from the BIDT WG recommendations, especially around findability, accessibility, interoperability, reusability, metadata structuring, and sustainable community-oriented architecture
This Adoption Story was created with the support of the RDA TIGER project.
What was the challenge that you addressed?
The BIDT WG had already produced substantial community outputs (curated literature, model repository and metadata catalogue, draft recommendation chapters, and dissemination assets), but these resources were distributed across multiple platforms (GitHub, GitHub Pages, Google Docs, Zotero, Zenodo, etc.), making long-term discoverability, coherent navigation, and adoption by external stakeholders more difficult.
A central challenge was therefore to move from recommendations-on-paper to recommendations-in-practice by creating a portal architecture that demonstrates how an Immune Digital Twin community can implement FAIR-aligned organisation of models, metadata, documentation, and governance-oriented guidance.
The RDA TIGER Cascading Grant was used to address this challenge by supporting the design and implementation of an interactive digital portal prototype that showcases BIDT WG outputs and provides a concrete foundation for future infrastructure development.
The adoption process
The adoption process was carried out as a structured implementation project under the RDA TIGER Cascading Grant, building on the BIDT WG’s prior Expert Call-supported landscape analysis and portal design work. The Cascading Grant focused on translating BIDT WG recommendations and FAIR-oriented requirements into a functional demonstrator portal.
1) Defining adoption targets from BIDT WG outputs
The project first identified which BIDT outputs would be implemented through the portal prototype:
- access pathways to WG resources (models, metadata catalogues, literature, recommendation chapters),
- FAIR-aligned structuring of resources,
- support for future interoperability and integration with external infrastructures (e.g., BioModels/EOSC-aligned pathways), and a sustainable, expandable community-facing architecture.
2) Translating recommendations into technical and design requirements
In the Cascading Grant application, the BIDT team explicitly defined implementation requirements corresponding to FAIR dimensions and platform sustainability, including:
- findability (identifiers, indexing, searchability),
- accessibility (standard APIs/protocols, open formats),
- interoperability (schemas, ontologies/vocabularies),
- reusability (rich metadata, provenance, licensing, versioning),
- ergonomics and maintainability (modular architecture, logging/monitoring, documentation, backup/recovery, scalability).
These requirements formed the backbone of the prototype specification and represented a direct adoption of BIDT WG recommendations into implementation criteria.
3) Expert-supported implementation and iterative co-design
The BIDT co-chairs and active members selected SISO as the service provider, based on prior work under the RDA Experts’ Call, proven quality, and ability to build on existing scientific portal architectures under tight timelines.
Development proceeded in phases:
- Design phase: information architecture, visual design, and iterative refinement of wireframes (52 detailed wireframes delivered),
- Prototype phase: implementation of a React/Node demonstrator integrating the approved design and reference architecture.
4) Validation and community review
Two structured rounds of feedback were organised using a shared collaborative document, and feedback from co-chairs and members was incorporated into the final prototype. A hybrid validation meeting was held on 17 November 2025 (alongside the 1st RDA Europe Annual Summit), with 16 participants attending in person/remotely; the majority of co-chairs formally approved the deliverable.
This review process ensured that adoption was not only technical but also community validated, consistent with the BIDT WG’s collaborative and multidisciplinary approach.
Benefits and impact of adoption
The adoption of BIDT WG recommendations through the portal prototype produced several concrete benefits:
1) Recommendations became operational
Instead of remaining only as guidance documents, BIDT WG principles were translated into a working portal demonstrator with explicit FAIR, metadata, interoperability, and sustainability requirements embedded in its design and roadmap.
2) Improved discoverability and coherence of BIDT outputs
The prototype provides a single, coherent entry point for WG resources and activities, improving visibility and reducing fragmentation across platforms (repositories, literature collections, recommendation materials, events, publications, and community outputs).
3) A reusable foundation for future IDT infrastructure
The Cascading Grant delivered a validated interactive prototype and a shared architectural roadmap that can be extended into a production-grade infrastructure, with sustainable hosting, a dedicated domain, and progressive integration of additional BIDT resources and external services. The BIDT final report identifies next steps, including sustainable hosting solutions (e.g., EGI) and further integration work.
4) Demonstration value for the wider RDA / EOSC ecosystem
The BIDT portal prototype acts as a concrete implementation example for how an RDA Working Group can: convert recommendations into infrastructure requirements, align domain-specific resources with FAIR and interoperability expectations, and support longer-term community sustainability and adoption.
What lessons did you learn?
Translate recommendations into implementation criteria early. Adoption works much better when recommendations are converted into concrete technical/design requirements and checklists at the start of the project, rather than treated only as a final reporting exercise. Iterative co-design with expert developers and community reviewers is essential. The combination of technical expertise (provider side) and domain/community validation (WG co-chairs and members) made the adoption process both practical and credible. Administrative delays can happen, but clear milestones help preserve quality. Even with timeline shifts, a revised plan with explicit phases (design, feedback rounds, prototype implementation, validation) can maintain momentum and deliver strong outcomes. Prototype-first adoption is valuable for complex research infrastructures. A validated prototype is an effective intermediate step: it turns recommendations into a tangible deliverable, supports alignment among stakeholders, and strengthens the case for future funding and production deployment.
About the Adopter(s)
University of Toulouse
The University of Toulouse is the host institution of Anna Niarakis, the co-chair of the BIDT WG and lead implementer of this RDA TIGER cascade grant.
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