Exceptional Contributions to Biocuration – Lifetime Achievement Award 2025

This award, given biennially (next award will be in 2027), recognizes a person who has made exceptional contributions to the field of biocuration. The recipient is required to present a 30 minute talk at an International Biocuration Conference, with expenses paid by the ISB, or at a virtual Biocuration seminar. The nominee does not have to be an active ISB member, as the award will include ISB membership for 1 year.

Voting will be open from 25 June – 23 July 2025

NOMINEES

The list of nominees is below. Scroll down for detailed descriptions.

  • Peter G. D’Eustachio, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, USA
  • Ruth Lovering, University College London, UK

Detailed Descriptions

Peter G. D’Eustachio, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, USA

Dr. D’Eustachio has been a cornerstone of the Reactome Knowledgebase since 2002, leading efforts as Editor-in-Chief and principal investigator to develop rigorous curation standards and innovative annotation pipelines. Under his leadership, Reactome has become a globally recognized core resource, encompassing molecular detail for over two-thirds of the human proteome.
Beyond curating hundreds of pathways, Dr. D’Eustachio has driven the integration of Reactome with external resources such as Gene Ontology, ChEBI, UniProt, Rhea, and the Alliance of Genome Resources, advancing data interoperability and reuse. His pioneering work to adapt Reactome content into GO-CAM models reflects his forward-thinking approach to biocuration, setting new standards for structured pathway representation and computational usability.

At NYU Langone Health, Dr. D’Eustachio applies his expertise in mammalian genetics to bridge experimental biology with computational annotation. His mentorship has been instrumental in training biocurators and fostering the next generation of bioinformaticians, ensuring both scientific rigor and continuity in the field.

Moreover, his extensive outreach across the bioinformatics community, including contributions to key publications and conferences, has cemented his role as a leader and advocate for high-quality biocuration. Notably, Peter has calmly steered Reactome and a broad team, bringing each members strengths to the fore while effortlessly teaching us how to move through the world of science. His sustained excellence, innovation, and leadership embody the mission of ISB and make him an outstanding candidate for this award.

Beyond curating hundreds of pathways, Dr. D’Eustachio has driven the integration of Reactome with external resources such as Gene Ontology, ChEBI, UniProt, Rhea, and the Alliance of Genome Resources, advancing data interoperability and reuse. His pioneering work to adapt Reactome content into GO-CAM models reflects his forward-thinking approach to biocuration, setting new standards for structured pathway representation and computational usability.

At NYU Langone Health, Dr. D’Eustachio applies his expertise in mammalian genetics to bridge experimental biology with computational annotation. His mentorship has been instrumental in training biocurators and fostering the next generation of bioinformaticians, ensuring both scientific rigor and continuity in the field.

Moreover, his extensive outreach across the bioinformatics community, including contributions to key publications and conferences, has cemented his role as a leader and advocate for high-quality biocuration. Notably, Peter has calmly steered Reactome and a broad team, bringing each members strengths to the fore while effortlessly teaching us how to move through the world of science. His sustained excellence, innovation, and leadership embody the mission of ISB and make him an outstanding candidate for this award.

Publications

  • Advancing Curation Of Viral Life Cycles, Host Interactions, And Therapeutics In Reactome. Matthews, Lisa; Cook, Justin; Stephan, Ralf; Milacic, Marija; Rothfels, Karen; Shamovsky, Veronica; Jassal, Bijay; Haw, Robin; Sevilla, Cristoffer; Gong, Chuqiao; Ragueneau, Eliot; May, Bruce; Wright, Adam; Weiser, Joel, Journal Of Virology. 2025 Apr 23; e0202424
  • Pathway-Based, Reaction-Specific Annotation Of Disease Variants For Elucidation Of Molecular Phenotypes. Orlic-Milacic, Marija; Rothfels, Karen; Matthews, Lisa; Wright, Adam; Jassal, Bijay; Shamovsky, Veronica; Trinh, Quang; Gillespie, Marc E; Sevilla, Cristoffer; Tiwari, Krishna; Ragueneau, Eliot; Gong, Chuqiao; Stephan, Ralf; May, Bruce, Database : The Journal Of Biological Databases & Curation. 2024 May 07; 2024:
  • The Reactome Pathway Knowledgebase 2024. Milacic, Marija; Beavers, Deidre; Conley, Patrick; Gong, Chuqiao; Gillespie, Marc; Griss, Johannes; Haw, Robin; Jassal, Bijay; Matthews, Lisa; May, Bruce; Petryszak, Robert; Ragueneau, Eliot; Rothfels, Karen; Sevilla, Cristoffer, Nucleic Acids Research. 2024 Jan 05; 52(D1):D672-D678
  • Plant Reactome Knowledgebase: Empowering Plant Pathway Exploration And OMICS Data Analysis. Gupta, Parul; Elser, Justin; Hooks, Elizabeth; D’Eustachio, Peter; Jaiswal, Pankaj; Naithani, Sushma, Nucleic Acids Research. 2024 Jan 05; 52(D1):D1538-D1547
  • Biochemical Pathways Represented By Gene Ontology-Causal Activity Models Identify Distinct Phenotypes Resulting From Mutations In Pathways. Hill, David P; Drabkin, Harold J; Smith, Cynthia L; Van Auken, Kimberly M; D’Eustachio, Peter, Genetics. 2023 Oct 04; 225(2):
  • Illuminate The Functions Of Dark Proteins Using The Reactome-IDG Web Portal. Beavers, Deidre; Brunson, Timothy; Sanati, Nasim; Matthews, Lisa; Haw, Robin; Shorser, Solomon; Sevilla, Cristoffer; Viteri, Guilherme; Conley, Patrick; Rothfels, Karen; Hermjakob, Henning; Stein, Lincoln; D’Eustachio, Peter; Wu, Guanming, Current Protocols. 2023 Jul; 3(7):e845
  • Biocuration Of A Transcription Factors Network Involved In Submergence Tolerance During Seed Germination And Coleoptile Elongation In Rice (Oryza Sativa). Naithani, Sushma; Mohanty, Bijayalaxmi; Elser, Justin; D’Eustachio, Peter; Jaiswal, Pankaj, Plants (Basel, Switzerland). 2023 May 29; 12(11):
  • The Gene Ontology Knowledgebase In 2023. Aleksander, Suzi A; Balhoff, James; Carbon, Seth; Cherry, J Michael; Drabkin, Harold J; Ebert, Dustin; Feuermann, Marc; Gaudet, Pascale; Harris, Nomi L; Hill, David P; Lee, Raymond; Mi, Huaiyu; Moxon, Sierra; Mungall, Christopher J, Genetics. 2023 May 04; 224(1):

Ruth Lovering, University College London, UK

We would like to nominate Professor Ruth Lovering for an Exceptional Contribution to Biocuration Award. Ruth has been an active member of the Biocuration community for over 25 years, significantly raising the profile of Biocuration and Bioinformatics as a Professor at University College London (UCL).

Ruth has contributed extensively to the curation of key resources such as HGNC, Gene Ontology (GO), and IMEx, and has been instrumental in developing curation standards, notably for pioneering the functional annotation of microRNAs and contributing to curation guidelines for transcription factors with the GREEKC Consortium.

Ruth established the Functional Gene Annotation Initiative in 2008, securing funding for cardiovascular, neurological, and microRNA annotation projects, and collaborating widely beyond her home department. Her work has led to numerous publications and real-world applications, and has included outreach to Parkinson’s patients and funders to highlight the value of curation.

Ruth was a prominent member of the GO Consortium, pushing forward standards and providing a significant proportion of human GO annotations. Ruth has organised and led multiple GO-annotation workshops for researchers alongside a popular UCL Bioinformatics MSc course. She is deeply committed to education and mentorship, supporting MSc students in gaining authorships, and actively encouraging curators to pursue career advancement, teaching qualifications, and publications.

Having served four years on the Executive Committee of the International Society for Biocuration, even after her recent retirement, Ruth continues to maintain UCL’s GO annotations, demonstrating her dedication to the Biocuration Community. Given her prolific contributions, leadership, mentorship, and ongoing commitment, Ruth Lovering is a highly deserving candidate for this award recognizing her lifetime achievements in Biocuration.

Publications

  • How Does the Scientific Community Contribute to Gene Ontology? Lovering RC. Methods Mol Biol. 2017. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-3743-1_7.
  • MicroRNA Biomarkers and Platelet Reactivity: The Clot Thickens. Sunderland N, Skroblin P, Barwari T, Huntley RP, Lu R, Joshi A, Lovering RC, Mayr M. Circ Res. 2017. doi:10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.116.309303.
  • Expanding the horizons of microRNA bioinformatics. Huntley RP, Kramarz B, Sawford T, Umrao Z, Kalea A, Acquaah V, Martin MJ, Mayr M, Lovering RC. RNA. 2018. doi: 10.1261/rna.065565.118.
  • Exploring autophagy with Gene Ontology. Denny P, Feuermann M, Hill DP, Lovering RC, Plun-Favreau H, Roncaglia P. Autophagy. 2018. doi: 10.1080/15548627.2017.1415189.
  • Genome-wide association and Mendelian randomisation analysis provide insights into the pathogenesis of heart failure. Shah S, Henry A, Roselli C, Lin H, Sveinbjörnsson G, Fatemifar G, Hedman ÅK, Wilk JB, Morley MP, Chaffin MD, Helgadottir A, Verweij N, Dehghan A, Almgren P, Andersson C, Aragam KG, Ärnlöv J, Backman JD, Biggs ML, Bloom HL, Brandimarto J, Brown MR, Buckbinder L, Carey DJ, Chasman DI, Chen X, Chen X, Chung J, Chutkow W, Cook JP, Delgado GE, Denaxas S, Doney AS, Dörr M, Dudley SC, Dunn ME, Engström G, Esko T, Felix SB, Finan C, Ford I, Ghanbari M, Ghasemi S, Giedraitis V, Giulianini F, Gottdiener JS, Gross S, Guðbjartsson DF, Gutmann R, Haggerty CM, van der Harst P, Hyde CL, Ingelsson E, Jukema JW, Kavousi M, Khaw KT, Kleber ME, Køber L, Koekemoer A, Langenberg C, Lind L, Lindgren CM, London B, Lotta LA, Lovering RC, Luan J, et al. Nat Commun. 2020 doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13690-5.
  • Gene Ontology curation of the blood-brain barrier to improve the analysis of Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases. Saverimuttu SCC, Kramarz B, Rodríguez-López M, Garmiri P, Attrill H, Thurlow KE, Makris M, de Miranda Pinheiro S, Orchard S, Lovering RC. Database (Oxford). 2021 doi: 10.1093/database/baab067.
  • Student biocuration projects as a learning environment. Thurlow KE, Lovering RC, De Miranda Pinheiro S. F1000Res. 2021. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.72808.2.
  • A GO catalogue of human DNA-binding transcription factors. Lovering RC, Gaudet P, Acencio ML, Ignatchenko A, Jolma A, Fornes O, Kuiper M, Kulakovskiy IV, Lægreid A, Martin MJ, Logie C. Biochim Biophys Acta Gene Regul Mech. 2021. doi: 10.1016/j.bbagrm.2021.194765.
  • The gene regulation knowledge commons: the action area of GREEKC Kuiper M, Bonello J, Fernández-Breis JT, Bucher P, Futschik ME, Gaudet P, Kulakovskiy IV, Licata L, Logie C, Lovering RC, Makeev VJ, Orchard S, Panni S, Perfetto L, Sant D, Schulz S, Vercruysse S, Zerbino DR, Lægreid A; GRECO Consortium. Biochim Biophys Acta Gene Regul Mech. 2022. doi: 10.1016/j.bbagrm.2021.194768.
  • Capturing heart valve development with Gene Ontology. Ahmed SH, Deng AT, Huntley RP, Campbell NH, Lovering RC. Front Genet. 2023. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1251902.