ELIXIR, the European Research Infrastructure for biological data, brings together Europe's major life-science data archives and, for the first time, connects these with national bioinformatics infrastructures and resources. By coordinating local, national, and international resources, ELIXIR seeks to meet the data-related needs of Europe's 500,000 life science researchers. We support the foundation on which our understanding of life is built, the life-science data. ELIXIR provides the facilities necessary for researchers —from bench biologists to cheminformaticians— to make the most of the rapidly growing research data.