The Spanish node of the Microbial Resources European Network is starting to develop in the Parc Científic of the University
The Spanish Type Culture Collection (CECT) of the Universitat de València has gathered in the Science Park representatives of the eight entities that will define the structure of microbial resources 'MicroBioSpain', a network of excellence created to optimise the connection between the different actors of the microbiological sector and boost the international projection of the Spanish microbial centres and services.
12 de december de 2017
Microbial resources represent the essential raw material for the advance of knowledge in health, biotechnology, agriculture, food technology and, in general, as support for research in Life Sciences.
The need to safeguard microbial resources and the growing increase in the demand for microorganisms for scientific research, as well as the emergence of a regulatory framework on their use and transfer, have highlighted the need to coordinate and combine efforts in the conservation of aforesaid biological resources. Hence the evolution of the collections towards the Microbial Resources Centre model, as well as their organization in networks –like REDESM, in Spain and nationally–, or through the MIRRI (Microbial Resources Research Infrastructure) initiative included in the strategic plan of ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures), which seeks to build a decentralized and coordinated pan-European infrastructure for better access to quality microbial resources.
The participation of Spain in MIRRI is articulated through the construction of a Spanish node which will connect micro-organism supplying centres and services related to microbiological R&D&i with experts and users of bio-industry, at a European and global level.
The first MicroBioSpain meeting, organised by CECT on the Parc Cientific, aims to be the germ of this Spanish node of MIRRI, a Research Infrastructure financed with European funds that gather the main Microbial Resources Centres of member countries.
MicroBioSpain is represented by the two public connections of Microorganism existing in Spain – the CECT and the Spanish Algae Bank (BEA)–, three CSIC centres (IATA, IPLA, CIAL), the Agrarian Innovation National Institute (INIA), Research & Technology food & agriculture Institute owned by the Government of Catalonia (IRTA), National Centre for Technology and Food Safety (CNTA) and Biópolis S.L. company, located in the Parc Cientific of the Universitat de València just as the CECT.
The participation of Spain in MIRRI is led by the Spanish Type Culture Collection, one of the unique services of the Universitat de València and the only official public collection in Spain that houses bacteria, archaea, filamentous fungi and yeast and has the category of Microbial Resource Centre
In this first meeting of MicroBioSpain, we have agreed, on one hand, to establish the Spanish catalogue of Microbial services, a portfolio of great biotechnological potential strains that needs to be shown and exposed to the service of the international scientific community," says the microbiologist of the Universitat de València Rosa Aznar, director of the CECT. "And on the other hand, we will work to find a legal framework that allows us to collaborate and establish the necessary synergies to access public financing jointly and to integrate the Spanish node into MIRRI efficiently," he concludes.