Press Release
EMBRIC supports your research – new Transnational Access Call launched
Berlin, 15. February. The second EMBRIC Transnational Access Call opens on the 15th of February 2018. Project leaders of innovative projects in the field of marine biotechnology can apply for funded access to high-quality facilities and pioneering technology platforms from five European Research Infrastructures. Included are: laboratory fees, technical, scientific and administrative support as well as travel and subsistence costs. The call closes on the 30th of April 2018.
The European Marine Biological Research Infrastructure Cluster (EMBRIC) initiated this call to support innovation in marine biotechnology. EMBRIC’s goal: to stimulate new applications in fields such as drug discovery, novel foods and food ingredients, aquaculture, nutraceuticals and cosmetics.
Scientists from academia and industry are invited to apply with innovative projects in the marine biotechnology sector. To develop their research projects, applicants can choose between 21 Access Providers, which are all institutions affiliated with the European Research Infrastructures AQUAEXCEL, ELIXIR, EMBRC, EU-OPENSCREEN and MIRRI. When selected, two researchers per project can benefit for up to 30 days from the free-of-charge use of laboratories and support from associated expert personnel. Important to highlight is that the access must be transnational – the home institution of the project leader cannot be situated in the same country as the access providers. Before submitting the project proposal, the project leader should get in touch with the selected Access Providers to verify the technical feasibility of the research. The contact details of each Access Provider are listed on the EMBRIC website. Once submitted, the project proposals are reviewed by a User Selection Panel. This panel consists of international experts from the marine biotechnology field and evaluates the proposals according to three criteria: scientific excellence, benefit of the access to different Research Infrastructures and the expected impact.
Within the first Transnational Access Call (TA), ten different research projects were funded. The Institute Pasteur recently organized a workshop in which Users, Access Providers and Research Infrastructures provided feedback. Christian Galasso from the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (SZN) in Naples highlighted “EMBRIC gave me the chance to use state-of-the-art aquaculture and bioassay facilities. I obtained excellent results and established new collaborations with colleagues at the Access Providers for further papers and projects”. Isabel Cunha from the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR) in Porto stated that the project “gave me the chance to access transcriptomic and proteomic equipment, not available in my institute. Results of experiments will help me to determine the composition of adhesive proteins produced by marine barnacles.” Overall, users were very impressed by the state-of-the-art equipment of the accessed facilities and the help received from its associated personnel. Most of the work done at EMBRIC facilities leads to publications in peer-reviewed journals. David Di Cioccio, who coordinates the TA call, is hoping for as many exciting and diverse proposals for the second Transnational Access Call as submitted for the first one.
Official Text: Transnational Access Call
Guide for the Applicant
Contacts:
For questions on the Transnational Access Call:
Dr Davide Di Cioccio
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
Villa Comunale
80121 Napoli - Italia
E-Mail: davide.dicioccio@szn.it
Media contact EMBRIC:
Laura Griestop
BIOCOM AG
Lützowstr. 33-36
10785 Berlin, Germany
E-Mail: l.griestop@biocom.de
