Are the creation of the largest and most diverse marine biological resource bank in the world and the valorization of research results in the field of materials of marine origin for applications in the fields of health and human well-being, two initiatives that can contribute to improving the quality of life of the inhabitants of the Atlantic regions of Spain, France, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Portugal? The European Union believes that yes and that is why the Interreg Atlantic Space 2014-2020 program, as part of the European 2020 strategy, has just granted more than 418,000 euros to these two three-year projects: 268,000 in the case of the EBB- European Marine Biological Resource Centre Biobank, coordinated by the ECIMAT Marine Research Centre and Campus do Mar and 150,000 euros in the case of the Bluehuman project, Blue Biotechnology as an innovation in human health for smart growth in Europe, in which the research group in Industrial Applications of Lasers participates and coordinated by the University of Minho.
“That a new center like ECIMAT, has achieved the first project led by the University of Vigo in such a competitive international call as the Interregional Cooperation in the Atlantic Area and is able to bring together some of the main collections of marine biological resources worldwide, marine business clusters and administrations from all over Europe, is nothing more than the result of a long-term effort and the dedication and passion of the entire human team at ECIMAT and Campus do Mar and means that we are working in the right direction. Furthermore, this success would not have been possible without the support received through the “Excellence in Research (INUGA)” program promoted by the Department of Culture, Education and University Planning of the Xunta de Galicia and co-financed by the European Union through the FEDER Galicia 2014-2020 Operational Program”, assures Antonio Villanueva, manager of ECIMAT, in relation to the project to create the EBB, which promotes the European Marine Biological Resource Centre and which, in addition to the coordination of ECIMAT and Campus do Mar, has the participation of research staff from the Area of Public International Law and Institutional Relations of the University of Vigo. For his part, Juan Pou considers that the subsidy for the Bluehuman project in which the research group in Industrial Applications of Lasers of the University of Vigo participates, “is an opportunity to enhance the results of our research work, helping interested companies to commercialize new products in the biomedical field, which gives great added value to projects of marine origin”.
The award of more than 400,000 euros to the two proposals from the University of Vigo is, for the Vice-Rector for Research and Transfer, “a satisfactory result, taking into account that six projects were requested in the first phase, of which two (a third) were selected to move on to the second and finally both were granted in the call, which was proposed in two phases, with a first pre-selection and a second to which only a limited number of proposals were admitted, after an evaluation”, highlights Asunción Longo.
The largest and most diverse bank of marine biological resources in the world
The main world marine culture collections located in Norway, Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Portugal; four marine biotechnology clusters in Spain, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom; six companies active in the field of marine biotechnology and the competent administrations in Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom in terms of access to genetic resources, participate in the project to create the European Marine Biological Resource Centre Biobank, EBB, which will coordinate the joint operation of the main marine biobanks in Europe. With a total budget of around two million euros “the project will focus on the development of new technologies and common protocols for the ex situ maintenance of marine biological resources and the harmonisation of existing ones so that the different biobanks work in a coordinated way under the umbrella of the European Marine Biological Resource Centre, EMBRC, constituting in fact the largest and most diverse marine biological resource bank in the world”, explains Villanueva.
The project coordinated by Ecimat and Campus do Mar will pay special attention to the implementation of procedures to comply with the new legislation on access to genetic resources, initially intended to protect the interests of the countries of origin of the resources and which “is currently in the implementation phase at the national level and represents a significant bureaucratic barrier for entities interested in carrying out research using genetic resources”, explains Villanueva, who recalls that the project brings together the entities involved in the process to present different use cases “that help us to develop, implement and communicate a guide to good practices so that both collections and end users of the resources access them in compliance with the regulations, minimizing, as far as possible, the administrative burden and the barriers that this may pose for research”.
Blue biotechnology as innovation in human health
16 universities, research centers, agencies and groups from Portugal, Spain, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom are participating in the Bluehuman project, coordinated by the University of Minho. “It is about opening new markets with greater added value for products of marine origin. In addition to the obvious applications in food and new drugs, in this case it is about obtaining potentially commercial products in the biomedical field,” explains Juan Pou, about the project that has a total budget of 2.5 million euros.
Beyond activities traditionally linked to the sea, Bluehuman paves the way for new value-added solutions, committed to sustainable exploitation of resources, focusing on various technological products such as prototypes of medical devices for bone therapies, human tissue regeneration or cosmetic formulations. For the research group in Industrial Applications of Lasers “this is an opportunity to highlight the results of our research and help companies commercialize new products in the biomedical field”, points out Pou.
Of the more than 100 projects presented to the first phase of the Interreg Atlantic Space program, only 42 will receive funding for their development.
Members of the Industrial Applications of Lasers research group
Source: DUVI
