MIRRI-ERIC headquarters inaugurated tomorrow

The headquarters of MIRRI-ERIC - Microbial Resources Research Infrastructure - European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) will be inaugurated at the University of Minho tomorrow, December 14. The ceremony will be attended by the President of the FCT, Madalena Alves; the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Elvira Fortunato; the Rector of the University of Minho, Rui Vieira de Castro; the Mayor of Braga, Ricardo Rio; representatives of the MIRRI ERIC member countries (Portugal, Spain, Belgium, France and Latvia) and representatives of the national community who are part of the national research infrastructure.

This is the first European research infrastructure based in Portugal and is housed at the University of Minho. The decision was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 13/07/2022 and resulted from the European Commission's approval of the application led by Portugal, in collaboration with Spain, and with the participation of France, Belgium and Latvia, for the establishment of the legal entity of this European research infrastructure in our country.

This European infrastructure will include "National Nodes" from each member country, with the "Portuguese Node" being the "Pt-mBRCN/MIRRI-PT" national infrastructure, integrated into the National Research Infrastructure Roadmap.

MIRRI-ERIC will be a distributed and certified repository of microorganism collections, guaranteeing access to a wide range of high-quality biological resources and data through a database that is easily searchable and interoperable with other databases (e.g. DNA, proteins, metabolites, etc.). This European infrastructure also aims to promote the introduction of good practices and a global exchange system for microbial resources, which strictly complies with all legal procedures and the Nagoya Protocol, facilitating access to and use of global genetic resources.

MIRRI-ERIC is a strategic infrastructure to support areas of interest to Portugal, namely: health, clinical and translational research; agri-food, forests and biodiversity; and the sea. It will serve as a repository for the biodiversity of marine microorganisms of interest to the agri-food industry, as well as in the health sector, which will allow them to be used for research and exploited for economic purposes, thus stimulating the productive fabric based on biotechnology-based industries.