MIRRI-ERIC headquarters is inaugurated tomorrow

The headquarters of MIRRI-ERIC - Microbial Resources Research Infrastructure - European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) will be inaugurated tomorrow, December 14, at the University of Minho. The ceremony will be attended by the President of 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 research infrastructure community.

This is the first European research infrastructure based in Portugal and is installed 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 approval by the European Commission 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" of each member country, the "Portuguese Node" being the national infrastructure "Pt-mBRCN/MIRRI-PT", integrated in the National Roadmap of Research Infrastructures.

MIRRI-ERIC will be a distributed and certified repository of microorganism collections, aiming to ensure 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 best practices and a global microbial resources exchange system that strictly complies with all legal procedures and the Nagoya Protocol, facilitating access and use of global genetic resources.

MIRRI-ERIC is a strategic infrastructure in supporting areas of interest to Portugal, namely: health, clinical and translational research; agri-food, forestry and biodiversity; and the sea. It will serve as a repository of biodiversity of marine microorganisms and with interest to the agri-food industry, as well as in the area of health, which will allow its use for research and its exploitation for economic purposes, thus stimulating the productive fabric based on biotechnology-based industries.