Teknopolis Program Television

Euskal Errati Telebista (EiTB), the Basque Radio Television addressed the issue of Biodiversity, in its Teknopolis program, one of its senior programs. Our colleague Ibon Cancio, from the Plentzia Maritime Station (PIE) of the University of the Basque Country (UPV / EHU) was interviewed while he presented some of the coastal areas where he usually samples, places rich in biodiversity. Many of the species present in those areas can be utilized as marine genetic resources by the industry as well as by researchers from academia, in order to obtain products with many potential uses: cosmetic, nutrition, health… Ibon Cancio focused his intervention on the importance of properly explaining what marine genetic resources are, what is their origin, who owns them and how necessary is to protect those resources, hence preserving biodiversity.

Dr. Cancio explained the regulations governing access to genetic resources, focusing on the the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing. He explained how the Nagoya protocol aims at a fair sharing of the benefits obtained from the exploitation of these genetic resources between both the party that exploits them and the provider country.

You can enjoy the full program here

WiLDSI webinar “Finding compromise on ABS & DSI in the CBD: Requirements & policy ideas from a scientific perspective”

Ibon Cancio was invited to participate as scientific advisor in the steering committee of the German project “WiLDSI: Science-based approaches for Digital Sequence Information” (Directed by: Leibniz Institutes DSMZ, IPK Gatersleben). In the framework of this project the White Paper “Finding compromise on ABS & DSI in the CBD: Requirements & policy ideas. From a scientific perspective”. Scholz, A.H.; Hillebrand, U.; Freitag, J; Cancio, I.; et al. 49 pp. (DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.35180.80001) was published here

The aim of the paper is to present the needs of researchers in regard to DSI and the hurdles that new regulations on DSI inclusion within Nagoya protocol on Access and benefit Sharing could impose in scientific advances, The paper presents 5 policy options that would safeguard open access, simplicity, legal certainty, future proof and present possibilities to include genetic resources. This is presented as a discussion paper in advance of the COP15 meeting to take place in China in 2021.

The White paper was publicly launched on the 7th of October of 2020 through a Webinar attended worldwide by 406 registered stakeholders. Ibon Cancio presented the section entitled “Misfits: Nagoya Protocol and DSI”.

The webinar “Finding compromise on ABS & DSI in the CBD: Requirements & policy ideas from a scientific perspective” can be visualised in the recorded video to be found here

Virtual Training on Quality Management Systems for culture collections and biobanks

A virtual Quality Management Systems (QMS) training workshop for culture collections and biobanks from EBB partnership took place last week in the framework of WP4 (“Development of common methodologies for the management of Marine Biobanks”). The training had 6 participants from three EBB partners (CIIMAR, NUIG and UPV/EHU) involved in managing collections in their respective institutions, and 2 trainers from the University of Sorbonne (Priscillia Gourvil, Roscoff marine station) and University of Vigo (Sergio González, ECIMAT marine station), who are the QMS managers at their respective stations.

The training was hosted and organised by the University of Vigo (EBB lead partner) with Belén Martín Míguez (EBB coordinator) acting as facilitator. It ran over three days structured into ‘wake-up talks’ followed by lectures on QMS matters and hands-on activities. Topics covered during the lectures included “Fundamentals of QMS”, “QMS requirements for culture collections and biobanks” and “QMS documentation”. Additional topics of interest for the management of the collections like the Nagoya protocol or Cryopreservation techniques were also presented by Fiz da Costa and Estefanía Paredes respectively. The hands-on activities allowed the participants to consolidate and put in practice the concepts acquired during the lectures with the support of the trainers.

Overall, the training was highly informative for the participants, and fostered the exchange of experiences and ideas in a relaxed atmosphere. The participants will be initiating a QMS implementation process for their respective collections and biobanks in the next months, and they can count on the advice and support of EBB QMS trainers to guide them through the process.

EBB is a project that operates under the umbrella of EMBRC (European Marine Biological Resource Centre) research infrastructure and the results of this training will be a contribution to it.

EBB project will celebrate its Fourth General Assembly

The EBB project will celebrate its fourth general assembly on October 8, 27 and 28. The event will be held in a completely virtual way, due to the restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

A total of 12 partners from the Atlantic Area will join this event, which will be also attended by members of the extended family of EMBRC.

A tour will be carried out through each of the project’s work packages, reporting on the progress made since the last general assembly in Bilbao (Spain), in November 2019, and focusing on the work that remains to be done before the project finishes.

A handbook on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) best practices will also be presented to the EBB community. This handbook will contribute to the improvement of the compliance with the ABS framework by EBB collections, and will serve as a reference handbook for the EMBRC community in the future.

In addition, the completion of several deliverables will lead to the presentation of a number of EBB products that will be capitalized in the near future, hence increasing the visibility and impact of EBB.

Don’t forget to check our website after the end of the assembly. There you will be find more news about what will be discussed.

You can find the agenda of the Assembly here.