Instruct ULTRA

Accessing marine biological resources and other services from EMBRC

The European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC) launches an internal call for accessing marine biological resources and related analytical services for BlueRemediomics project partners. In this internal call, exclusively reserved to BlueRemediomics partners, EMBRC will supply services for conducting activities foreseen in the BlueRemediomics work program. Any researcher or institution not part of the BlueRemediomics project cannot participate in this internal call.

Services offered

a. Marine biological resources

The marine biological resources available via EMBRC include: 

• collections of living microorganism cultures, including strains of prokaryotic and eukaryotic species
• dried, frozen or chemically fixed sample collections
• live or fixed/frozen environmental samples that can be sampled upon request, representing consortia of marine organisms collected from the natural environment in the vicinity of EMBRC partner node laboratories. 

Specific strain requests can be requested contacting access@embrc.eu, with the email subject: BlueRemediomics - internal call.

b. Analytical services

EMBRC offers also analytical services for:

- molecular biology (nucleic acid extraction, PCR, library preparation, sequencing, etc.)
- chemical analyses (mass spectrometry, HPLC, etc.)
- bioactivity screening assays (antioxidants, antimicrobial, anticancer, antifouling, allelopathy, anti-obesity, anti-inflammatory, cosmetics-oriented bioassays, etc.).

Specific services requests and/or further information can be addressed to access@embrc.eu, with the email subject: BlueRemediomics - internal call. 

On-site and remote access

Marine biological resources and analytical services provided by EMBRC can be accessed remotely (via shipment of samples to/from BlueRemediomics partner labs). Researchers can also visit and perform experiments and/or analyses at EMBRC sites through on-site access. In the latter case, costs for travel, accommodation and subsistence must be covered by the BlueRemediomics partners via their own funds. These expenses are not included in the internal call costs and cannot be reimbursed by EMBRC.

Cost of the requests

The cost of the services provided is capped to an overall of 5000€ for provision of marine biological resources and / or analytical services.

Call Submission Guidelines

Before applying

1. Check the feasibility and the cost of the request
Services provided in this internal call will be free-of-charge to BlueRemediomics partners but capped to an overall cost of 5000€ for provision of marine biological resources and / or  analytical services. Costs of shipment of strains / analysed samples needs to be included in the overall cost of 5000€. Costs of on-site access (travel, accommodation, meals) are up to the researchers visiting the EMBRC Operators.

You need to enquire about the feasibility and overall cost of your request by contacting access@embrc.eu, with email subject: BlueRemediomics - internal call. In the email message, please specify the material and analysis required, the amount of samples to analyse, the EMBRC partner of your choice, whenever possible. The EMBRC Access Officer will contact the liaison officers of EMBRC nodes to obtain a quote of the request. Requests exceeding 5000€ will require written approval of the Project Management Team of the BlueRemediomics project. 

2. Check the compliance to "Access and Benefit Sharing"
You are strongly encouraged to read the EMBRC “Step-by-step guide for ABS compliance” before requesting access to marine biological resources. Depending on the country of origin of resources being requested, you may be required to obtain authorization from the country of origin to use the resource, which may require a significant amount of time.

How to apply?
Applications for access (remote or on-site) to marine biological resources and/or analytical services need to be submitted online, by clicking on the button "Begin new application" (right column in this page). Requests will be processed continuously, pending the overall budget availability. Requests made by researchers not affiliated to the BlueRemediomics project will not be processed. 

After applying
As soon as an application is submitted, the EMBRC operators will check the availability of the resources and services requested (feasibility check). Applicants will be informed by email that the request is feasible, usually within two weeks from submission of the request.

In case of remote access to marine biological resources:
Before the provision of biological resources takes place, the BlueRemediomics partner will be required to sign an agreement with the EMBRC Operator delivering the biological material. This may involve negotiation and signature by a legal representative of the host institution of a Material Transfer Agreement. In this case, the EMBRC Access Officer will coordinate contact between the EMBRC Operator and the BlueRemediomics partner.

In case of on-site access:
the EMBRC Operator will negotiate with the researcher team of the BlueRemediomics partner the dates of on-site access. Dates of on-site access and other provisions will be detailed in an "User Access Contract", to be signed before the on-site access by: the legal representative of the EMBRC Operator providing the services requested, the researchers affiliated to the BlueRemediomics partner, the legal representative of the BlueRemediomics partner to which the researchers are affiliated.