Project SUS-MIRRI.IT funded by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan

Microbial biobanks in Italy launch a €17M project to strengthen their activities in line with the country’s participation in MIRRI-ERIC

Torino (Italy) and Braga (Portugal), 14 November 2022
The project “Strengthening the MIRRI Italian Research Infrastructure for Sustainable Bioscience and Bioeconomy” (SUS-MIRRI.IT) is launched today, in Torino (Italy), as part of the actions oriented towards Italy’s membership (the country is currently a prospective Member) of MIRRI-ERIC, the pan-European distributed Research Infrastructure for the preservation, systematic investigation, provision and valorisation of microbial resources and biodiversity.
The project SUS-MIRRI.IT, funded by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan – PNRR, is granted by the European Commission’s NextGenerationEU programme with a total budget of about €17M. It is coordinated by the University of Torino and involves 14 other institutions: CNR, ENEA, OGS, the Universities of Cagliari, Genoa, Milano Bicocca, Modena and Reggio Emilia, Naples Federico II, Palermo, Perugia, Parma, Sassari, Verona and the University of Basilicata.
The general objective of SUS-MIRRI.IT is to implement the network of microbial biobanks distributed throughout Italy to increase the benefit that society can derive from the knowledge and valorisation of microbial biodiversity, which is a critical asset to face several of the greatest social, economic and environmental challenges that characterize our time. The specific goals of the project are: i) the implementation of infrastructures and quality management of microbial biobanks and related metadata; ii) the development of services and training courses for Academia and Bioindustry; iii) the creation of a national platform to promote the national catalogue of microorganisms and their metadata; and iv) provide access to available state-of-the-art technologies and services, making the infrastructure easily accessible to different types of users.
The project will be developed along 30 months, in close articulation with the work program of MIRRI-ERIC.
Giovanna Cristina Varese, the Coordinator of SUS-MIRRI.IT, said that “This project is a great chance for the Italian microbiological community. We will use the funds to raise the quality of Italian microbial biobanks to provide innovative services to the scientific and industrial community, thus fostering Bioscience and Bioeconomy in Italy and abroad”.

According to its Executive Director, Luís Soares, “MIRRI-ERIC congratulates our colleagues in Italy for having the SUS-MIRRI.IT project approved and for its launching, and we are really looking forward to welcome Italy as a full Member of MIRRI-ERIC in the very near future.”.

About MIRRI-ERIC

The Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure – European Research Infrastructure Consortium (MIRRI-ERIC) is the pan-European distributed Research Infrastructure for the preservation, systematic investigation, provision and valorisation of microbial resources and biodiversity. It brings together ~50 microbial domain Biological Resource Centres (mBRCs), culture collections and research institutes. MIRRI serves the bioscience and the bioindustry communities by facilitating the access, through a single point, to the broadest range of high-quality microorganisms, their derivatives, associated data and services, with a special focus on the domains of Health & Food, Agro-Food, and Environment & Energy.
More information and contacts:
www.mirri.org | https://www.linkedin.com/company/microbial-resource-research-infrastructure/ | info@mirri.org.
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