Establishing Bergen Marine Biobank as a national biobank resource in the Norwegian Marine Biobank Network

Our project aims to establish Bergen Marine Biobank (BMB) based on the unique marine collections located at the University of Bergen (UoB). UoB has supported research in polar research and marine science extensively over the last decades, covering a broad range of research disciplines and achieved international recognition. An extensive research cruise activity from Bergen over the years have led to the accumulation of valuable isolates of microorganisms and microalgae of great national interest as a sour ce for bioprospecting projects. Centre for Geobiology has a valuable collection of extremophile microorganisms from the recently discovered deep hydrothermal vent fields at the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge (AMOR), north of Jan Mayen. These habitats are unique i n the Norwegian sector as microbial communities are adapted to high pressure (1000 bar), extreme pH (0-12), and temperatures ranging from -0.7°C to 122°C. These unaccessible sites offer an extensive range of extreme habitats, this is a source for a vast r ange of novel and highly diverse populations of extremophilic archaea and bacteria. Another collection at Department of Biology consists of marine microalgae, cyanobacteria and diatoms which have been for the last 10 years involved in biodiscovery project s related to anti-cancer activity. Both Centre for Geobiology and Department of Biology have unique expertise in handling, growing and isolating the microorganisms and will contribute with their competence into BMB. Altogether, the collections of extremop hiles and microalgae in Bergen will be a valuable contribution to complement the overall national collection coordinated by MarBank. BMB aims to secure these unique collections and make them available for national bioprospecting initiatives, and a wider a rray of future research efforts. The projected BMB will be strongly integrated with MarBank, and operate in synergy with the national coordinating node.