S2AQUA Biobank

Our Samples, Your Science, Shared Success

THE PORTUGUESE BLUE BIOBANK

The creation of a Portuguese biobank for marine resources is a strategic priority to increase the current knowledge on the planet’s biodiversity, and to contribute to the visibility of national marine bioresources and its economic valorization at both national and international chains. In view of the above, the Portuguese Blue Biobank (BAP) project was established in 2022 and focuses on the implementation of a national network of marine resources Biobanks to facilitate sustainable and regulated access to marine biodiversity for scientific and industrial users.

S2AQUA BIOBANK

S2AQUA Biobank collection is focused on:

pathogenic bacteria isolated from different marine organisms, that can be used to develop molecular and biochemical identification protocols leading to faster diagnoses, or in pathogenic challenges to unveil mitigation strategies for disease outbreaks or for the development of preventive tools, such as vaccines;
fish-derived cell lines that have high potential for cellular in vitro research, aiming at reducing the in vivo experimentation;
macroalgae collected from the Portuguese coast, which can be used for bioremediation and deployment to off-shore environment (for IMTA purposes), and for the development of molecular identification protocols.

APPLICABILITY

In the scope of this project, several protocols were (and can be) developed, namely analysis of virulence genes, characterisation of bacterial outbreaks that affect marine fish, in vitro studies to test the effect of different natural and synthetic compounds in cell proliferation or cell toxicity, macroalgae molecular identification that unveiled species mislabelling in some research centres, and so on. Overall, the Portuguese Blue Biobank project enables the development of different collections representative of marine biodiversity and related biotechnological resources important to unlock innovation and for the development of the Blue Biotechnology sector, including Aquaculture.