miRNA-Transcriptomic Open Project (miRTOP)

What is miRTOP?

miRTOP, or “miRNA-Transcriptomic Open Project”, is an open and community-based project acting as a platform where microRNA researchers from any origins,field, and career level can meet, exchange, and develop new miRNA-related projects in a collaborative and respectful environment. miRTOP was initiated in 2015 by the collaboration of a few researchers that aimed at creating a reflection group on metazoan miRNAs to identify blockages in our understanding of their nature and diversity, as well as pitfalls and solutions for their analysis using high-throughput transcriptomic techniques. Instead of favoring one vision or one tool/software over the other(s), the miRTOP community recognizes that each miRNA research project possesses its own constraints and requirements to address the formulated hypotheses. miRTOP therefore inherently values diversity of opinions and research interests, fosters alternative perspectives and approaches, and promotes the development of downstream miRNA analysis tools that are compatible with existing detection and quantification tools.

How is miRTOP organized?

miRTOP is a fully open and transparent hub of different projects. While miRTOP possesses a reduced organizing committee for “business” purposes, miRTOP has a horizontal structure with teams of people working independently on different projects. Each project is however lead by one or few researchers, usually the people who first demonstrated an interest in the specific question the group works at answering.

Who can participate?

In practice, miRTOP welcomes anyone interested in miRNA research and willing to participate in one or more of the group’s projects. Therefore everyone is encouraged to take part into discussions occurring on the group pages, to join the development of novel tools, to participate in the analysis of data, or to bring up to the community novel issues that some members of the miRTOP group can help address. If you work in relation with the miRNA field, and want to take part in the development of new tools, please consider joining us and sharing your ideas.