Issue 12 of MaCuMBA project news now available

Issue 12 of MaCuMBA Project News features an article by Thomas Vanagt, from MaCuMBA partner eCOAST Marine Research, outlining important information scientists should know about the Nagoya Protocol, an international agreement which aims to ensure that the benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources are shared in a fair and equitable way.

“While marine scientific research largely contributes to improving our knowledge of the marine environment and biodiversity contained therein, it is also a regulated activity requiring full compliance with international rules and standards. These rules and standards are all too often unknown to scientists involved in collecting biological samples in the marine environment.” explains Vanagt.

MaCuMBA is an EU FP7-funded project which aims to increase the rate of isolation of marine microorganisms using novel high throughput techniques for improved isolation efficiency and cultivation of marine microorganisms and screening for bioactive compounds and biotechnological applications.

The newsletter, which can be downloaded from the MaCuMBA project website at www.macumbaproject.eu also features feedback from students who took part in the two-week MaCuMBA Summer School on ‘Sampling, Isolation & Cultivation of Marine Microorganisms’.

The MaCuMBA Summer School took place from 12-24 July 2015 in the premises of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) on the island of Texel. The Summer School was open to both MaCuMBA partners and external participants, and students from all over the world applied to take part. During the summer school, students had the opportunity to interact with experts in the field and obtained first-hand experience through a series of lectures and hands-on practical work, facilitated by leading microbiologists.

MaCuMBA Project Coordinator, Prof Lucas Stal (NIOZ), said: “The success of the Summer School was primarily thanks to the contributions of the expert lecturers, many of whom were from our MaCuMBA consortium, which helped tremendously to keep the fee for the students as low as possible. The feedback from both the students and the lecturers has been overwhelmingly positive.”

For more information about MaCuMBA, please visit: www.macumbaproject.eu or contact Marieke Reuver, email: [e-mail]

Notes for Editors
MaCuMBA (Marine Microorganisms: Cultivation, Methods for Improving their Biotechnological Application) is coordinated by the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and is a joint venture of 23 partner institutions from 11 EU countries. MaCuMBA aims to improve the isolation rate and growth efficiency of marine microorganisms.

AquaTT is the communication and dissemination partner for the project. For press queries, please contact Marieke Reuver, email: [e-mail]

Countries

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom