On Thursday, January 30, the 10th edition of the “Café con Sal” lecture series will begin. The opening ceremony will be led by Ibon Cancio, Professor of Cell Biology at La Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU) and researcher at the Plentzia Marine Station (PiE), who will give us a historical overview of marine stations and their current mission, with the lecture Marine Stations: 20000 leagues under the sea since the XIXth century into the “Blue Growth”.
The sea is not our natural habitat, and for most of our history, it was the avenue—or the abyss—between territories. The organisms that inhabit it were not studied until the 19th century, when we began to develop the skills and infrastructures necessary for their analysis, such as vessels or refuge-institutions located by the sea.
Marine biological stations were originally conceived to host itinerant scientists, serving as resting places that provided equipment, protection, assistance, and basic knowledge to visitors. During these 175 years since the opening of the first station in Ostend (Belgium), the oceans have provided countless essential resources, opening research possibilities in aspects of basic science, applicable, for example, to biomedical research through the use of marine model organisms. With the beginning of fisheries research, different countries started investing in science, creating their first national research programs and funding mechanisms by the end of the 19th century. Basic biological research on fisheries triggered transnational collaborative research, based on the collaborative spirit that enabled, for example, the international analysis of the biological sample collection from the Challenger expedition. In the 21st century, the development of “Blue Biotechnology” promises to contribute to the socioeconomic development of maritime regions through the so-called “Blue Growth”.
All this evolution has happened because “knowledge is power” and “research is not an expense, but an investment,” says Ibon Cancio. Biological stations are a key element for the development of blue growth and to achieve this “power,” and, as Ibon will explain, this is demonstrated by the stations at Ecimat, the PiE UPV/EHU, and others within EMBRC-ERIC.
The conference will take place in the ECIMAT auditorium at 11h, will be broadcast live at http://tv.uvigo.es/es/directo/1.html, and will be permanently available on the UVigoTV and CIM-UVigo websites.
