Industry Expert Workshop: Background

Rationale & Target Audience

The enormous microbial biodiversity of marine environments offers an almost unlimited resource of enzymes and bioactive compounds.  In line with the development of innovative bioinformatics tools for (meta)genomics analysis based on high-throughput methods, application options of marine microbial knowledge in industry and medicine are rapidly increasing.

This second Industry Expert Workshop under the lead of the Ocean of Tomorrow project Micro B3 brings together academic and industrial scientists.  It aims to further the exchange of current approaches for the discovery of novel microbial strains, bioactives and engineering of marine-derived biocatalysts with the help of bioinformatics tools.  Opportunities and challenges for understanding complex genome data and their application to discover new enzymes and bioactive compounds will be discussed.

For this workshop a team between the projects Micro B3, MaCuMBa and PharmaSea was set up, as we aim for similar target audiences. Our main target group for networking are heads of Research and Development in small, medium and large biotechnological companies, as well as other industry (association) representatives with an interest in understanding marine and microbial diversity. The intention of the workshop is to discuss methods and tools for better handling of data, information and knowledge to support biotechnological applications.

Workshop Outline

Four focused sessions and a cross-sectorial panel discussion are planned:

  • Natural products based on marine biodiversity (Dr. Fernando de la Calle)
  • Environmental biotechnology through marine microbial knowledge (Prof. J. L. Ramos)
  • Bioinformatic tools and methods for innovative blue biotechnology (Dr. R. Kottmann)
  • New strategies for high throughput isolation of novel marine microorganisms (Prof. L. Stal)
  • Panel discussion on bioactives of marine origin – opportunities and challenges (Prof. M. Jaspars)

A draft programme is available for download here, please check regularly for updates.

Draft Workshop Programme, Version 14 November 2014

Selection Criteria

Participants will be selected in case the registrations are surpassing 40 until Mid January.

We aim for 50 % industry representation, as diverse as possible with a focus, this time, on southern European countries to enhance networking. Therefore we encourage only one person per company, or association, or institute to register. Furthermore we aim for equal gender distribution.

Registration & Timeline

Registration Deadline is End of January 2015, but please register earlier.

Link to Online Registration

Final confirmation of acceptance will be made Mid February 2015.

Participants have to confirm their ID card number due to security restrictions at the company PharmaMar and be able to show the ID on demand.

In case of switch of persons or cancellations please notify us at your earliest convenience. If still possible, persons on the waiting list will then be notified.

Costs

The workshop is free of charge. Coffee breaks, and two lunches and one dinner are included.

Note that participants have to cover travel costs and hotel nights (for more info please see logistics) as well as all other costs on their own.

We are looking forward to meeting you!