Here we present the establishment of an open-access web-based repository for microbiological Raman spectroscopy data. The data collection, called ‘MicrobioRaman’ (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/MicrobioRaman/studies), was inspired by the great success and usefulness of research databases such as GenBank and UniProt. This centralized repository, residing within the BioStudies database¹ — which is maintained by a public institution, the European Bioinformatics Institute — minimizes the risk of data loss or eventual abandonment, offering a long-term common reference for analysis with advantages in accessibility and transparency over commercial data analysis tools. We feel that MicrobioRaman will provide a foundation for this growing field by serving as an open-access repository for sharing microbiological Raman data and through the codification of a set of reporting standards.

Despite the potential of Raman spectroscopy in microbiology, the reporting of analytical methods and data for microbiological systems has evolved in a haphazard manner, and progress in the field is hindered by the lack of both a set of standards for data reporting and a common database to deposit microbiological Raman data. Raman data from microorganisms is relatively complex to analyse because proper interpretation is dependent on biological context, experimental conditions and data processing.