EMBARC

European Consortium for Microbial Resource Centres

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'EMbaRC will establish a self-sustainable community of European Microbial Resource Centres representing a large bio-diversity and offering a wide-range of not only bio-resources but also expert services. These services will enable the development of new partnerships with public institutes in the field of biodiversity and will facilitate revenue-generating partnerships with the economic sector (large food or biotech companies, research organisations, SMEs, NGO’s etc) that will be defined in a set of validate business models for Biological Resource Centres. The objective is to enable not only the EMbaRC partners but also other European BRCs, especially those who are endangered or isolated, to find complementary sources of funding to ensure their future existence. Thus EMbaRC proposes an extensive training and outreach programme targeting these collections as well as the wider research community. Furthermore providing access to the partners’ expert services via the transnational access proposed will enable EMbaRC to improve, coordinate and validate its offer to the research community from within both public and private sectors. Through its networking and harmonisation activities EMbaRC will lay down the foundations of the future Global Biological Resource Centre Network ensuring that European expertise and research are at the forefront of the International scene. Through the EMbaRC joint research programme the partners will pool their resources and expertise to collaboratively improve strain and DNA storage and develop new identification methods for microorganisms for the benefit of the wider scientific community.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Microbes are the primary source of genetic material for life and could well address key technical challenges in many areas. A European network of microbial Biological Resource Centres (mBRCs) has coordinated and validated the delivery of valuable microbial resources to researchers in academia and industry on a global scale.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

There are around 200 collections of microbes in Europe and development of quality assurance and technical expertise is key to delivery of optimal microbial resources and services. Ten partners from seven countries have worked together to form the http://www.embarc.eu/ (EMBARC) (European consortium for microbial resource centres) project to address this ambitious goal.

EMBARC's deliverables include a common quality manual to enable collection operators to identify and move towards the implementation of best practices. Consortium members have also improved protocols to identify, authenticate and preserve cultures. Working with scientists and journal editors, the improvement of access to strains cited in publications was also addressed.

Safe handling of microorganisms is a top priority and the project consortium worked with the microbiology community to develop a Biosecurity Code of Conduct. After analysis of factors impacting handling, storage and distribution of microbial strains, appropriate mechanisms have been drawn up to safeguard the public and environment against misuse of microorganisms.

A one-stop access to the member collections of EMBARC and the wider European BRC community via a searchable web portal building on the outcomes of Common Access to Biological Resources and Information and Global Biological Resource Centre Network was initiated. At the molecular research level, the project created a http://www.microdnabank.eu (European Microbial DNA Bank Network) with shared roles and common practices.

Dissemination efforts have highlighted the major outcomes of the EMBARC deliverables widely; these included a success stories brochure and papers and posters at 41 conferences in 10 countries. Thirty publications cover protocols to extend the shelf life of delicate microbes and molecular marker-based identification schemes.

Interaction opportunities between mBRCs, microbiology laboratories and the bioeconomy have been increased by training initiatives including a new Erasmus Mundus Programme and new e-learning tools. A programme for transnational access to mBRCs was offered to almost 60 European scientists across 10 countries for 580 days.

EMBARC played a key role in placing the Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure on the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures roadmap (2010). Harmonisation and a common approach to developing such an infrastructure have laid the foundations for a global BRC network.