Basque Microalgae Culture Collection (BMCC): new microalgae collection, new opportunities for the blue economy.

Our colleagues from the Plentzia Marine Station (PiE) from the University of the Basque Country (UPV) presented a poster about the Basque Microalgae Culture collection titled: “Basque Microalgae Culture Collection (BMCC): new microalgae collection, new opportunities for the blue economy” in the poster session.

In addition, Sergio Seoane participated in a round table titled: ”Biobanking for our environment: plant biobanking, species preservation and crop opportunities”. This session was about how the environmental biobanks and the conservation of plant genetic resources play a central role in sustainable agriculture, food security, livelihoods, and products for human health as well as in conservation and restoration of nature reserves.

ASSEMBLE Plus 2021: Marine biological research at the frontier (online conference)

On the 22nd January 2021, Fiz da Costa presented the services provided at Toralla Marine Science Station (ECIMAT), which belongs to Marine Research Centre (CIM) of the University of Vigo. In this talk it was presented the information about the Nagoya Protocol and Access and Benefit (ABS) regulations that is available at ECIMAT website and the ABS guide for users of Spanish genetic resources  that were developed thanks to the support of EBB project.

The talk is available through the YouTube channel of European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC). If you want to visualize, please click here (from minute 28 onwards).

Workshop: “How to Do Nagoya: access to marine genetic resources in compliance with ABS regulations”

The next January 29th, members of the EBB project and the EMBRC ABS working group organize the Workshop: “How to Do Nagoya: access to marine genetic resources in compliance with ABS regulations”, as part of the agenda of the ASSEMBLE Plus Conference 2021. The main goal of this workshop is to share with the service providers, and its users from academia and industry, in Assemble+ the work carried out within EMBRC to help such community to comply with their Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) duties in the light of the Nagoya protocol when utilizing marine genetic resources.

One of the main aims of the European Blue Biobank (EBB) project is supporting biobanks and culture collections to comply with these regulations as holders and providers of marine genetic resources. According to this, EBB project has been providing support to end-users to comply with ABS regulations for their access to marine genetic resources. With the aim of being a reference for other users, and also for biobanks and culture collections, EBB project together with the ABS working group of EMBRC, have produced a Best Practice Guidelines on ABS for access to marine genetic resources, and a “step by step” short guide. Both documents will be presented by Anne Emmanuelle Kervella and Ian Probert from Biological Station of Roscoff, after an introduction of the EMBRC’s ABS Working Group by Nicolas Pade, EMBRC Executive Director.

The day will be concluded with a round table where some users of services and resources at marine biological stations will share their experience. Arnaud Larroquete, EMBRC ABS Compliance Officer, will also explain the results of an ABS audit of genetic resources in collections of Atlantic marine stations, conducted on the frame of EBB project.

The event will take place on-line and the registration is still opened. You can register to this workshop and other talks here. For checking the agenda, please click here .

Research & Biopiracy: An Intro to Nagoya Protocol & European Access & Benefit Sharing Regulations

On the 12th of November 2020, our colleague and EBB partner Heidi Tillin, from the Marine Biological Association (MBA), gave a virtual talk on the “Coffee Time Talk” seminar series organized by MBA about the Nagoya Protocol entitled: “Research & Biopiracy: An Intro to Nagoya Protocol & European Access & Benefit Sharing Regulations”.

She briefly introduced the legislative background of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol. Then, she explained what is Access and Benefit Sharing and the obligations imposed on the users of genetic resources or traditional knowledge in the European Union by the EU REG511/2014. She also showed to the audience the ABS Clearing House and how it can help final users to comply with the regulations associated with the Nagoya Protocol.

After this introduction, she focused on marine collections, and what are the requirements that the collections needs to demonstrate to become an EU registered collection. According to this, she explained that many organizations have developed guidelines for improving their practices. She exposed the advances made in the frame of EBB project and that a Handbook on implementation of Best Practices focused on biobanks and collections has been developed. This new document, created under the umbrella of EMBRC and its ABS working group, is divided in two parts: the first one introduces the legal framework and the second one includes technical guidelines and some useful annexes for their implementation.

The recording of the presentation is available here.