• Image of the spiralling microalga Spirulina
    ASSEMBLE Plus

ASSEMBLE Plus

Association of European Marine Biological Laboratories Expanded

ASSEMBLE Plus provides scientists from academia, industry and policy with a quality-assured programme of access to marine biological station facilities and resources.  These stations offer a wide variety of services, including access to marine ecosystems, unique marine biological resources, state-of-the-art experimental and analytical facilities with integrated workflows, historical observation data, and advanced training opportunities. The goal of the project is to stimulate European fundamental and applied research excellence in marine biology and ecology, thereby improving our knowledge and technology-base for the European bioeconomy, policy shaping and education.

ASSEMBLE Plus brings together 32 marine stations and institutes with modern research infrastructures and track-records of unique service provision, from 14 European and two associated countries, under the leadership of the European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC), an ESFRI consortium developed from the previous ASSEMBLE (FP7) partnership.

The sum of the actions envisaged in ASSEMBLE Plus, including access, networking and research, will ultimately increase the number of users of marine biological stations and shape novel strategic development perspectives of the partners, to be based on effective integration and efficient complementarities, resulting in a key contribution to their long-term sustainability.

Through Assemble+, SAMS offers transnational access to our research facilities.

In JRA2 Cryopreservation: SAMS is responsible for task 4 (R&D on cryopreservation and biobanking of macroalgae) and task 6 (development and application of novel cryopreservation approaches to cryopreserve a wide range of protists, microbial consortia and mutant libraries).

In JRA 2 Functional Genomics (Macroalgae): SAMS is committed to implement / adapt specific protocols for the generation of genetic resources for a panel of emergint / prospective marine model organisms; to generate a reference set of carefully phenotyped or genotyped genetic resources of different marine organisms ranging from bacteria to metazoans; and to produce and provide access to the phenotypic or genotypic data necessary for the functional description ofthe genetic resources.