ESF Research Conferences

ESF-COST High-Level Research Conference

Marine Biotechnology: Future Challenges

20-25 June 2010

Conference Overview

To see the Final Programme please click here.

© Flora Palumbo

During the last decade, the scientific and political landscape of marine biotechnology has been deeply modified. Despite significant achievements, marine biotechnology is not contributing to its full potential in answering the numerous challenges European countries are facing now with the present global crisis. How marine biotechnology can contribute to these challenges is therefore an even more relevant question nowadays than ten years ago.

The Marine Board-ESF and COST are organizing a conference to promote scientific excellence in marine biotechnology by providing leading scientists and young researchers with a platform to present their work, to discuss current scientific understanding and recent developments in key areas of marine biotechnology, and to identify the priorities for further research and infrastructure.

© Flora Palumbo

The Conference will draw from a broad range of scientific and technological disciplines focusing on identified themes, research tools and approaches of strategic importance for Europe, including but not limited to algae and seaweed biomass, aquaculture, bioprospecting, human and environmental health, enzymes, marine bionanotechnology and biomaterials, marine models, marine –‘omics’, pollution and bioremediation, bioinformatics and research infrastructures. The emphasis of the Conference is on innovation and vision for the future of marine biotechnology in Europe, moving from exploitation to sustainability.

The Conference will be structured around seven half-day sessions, organized under high-level themes which serve as an umbrella to address a wide range of relevant aspects of Marine Biotechnological research and associated challenges. These are:

  • Historic perspectives and Grand Challenges
  • Marine Biotechnology and Environmental Health
  • Impact of Marine Biotechnology on Human Health and Well-being:

    • Bioprospecting for discovery of novel drugs
    • Marine Food

  • Marine Industry Processes and Products
  • The Marine Biotechnology Research Toolkit
  • Perspectives from industry, policy and the science community – a Future Look

To see the Final Programme please click here.

Invited speakers will include:

  • Oded Beja - Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, IL
  • Catherine Boyen - CNRS Station Biologique de Roscoff, FR
  • Allan Cembella - Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven, DE
  • Rita Colwell - University of Maryland, US
  • Roberto DiLauro - President of the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Naples, IT
  • Brian Dixon - University of Waterloo, Ontario, CA
  • Alan Dobson - University College Cork, IE
  • Edel O. Elvevoll - University of Tromsø, NO
  • William Fenical - Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, US
  • Angelo Fontana - Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry (CNR-ICB), IT
  • Frank Oliver Glockner - Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, DE
  • Laura Giuliano - Mediterranean Science Commission (CIESM), MC
  • Garbiñe Guiu Etxeberria - European Commission-DG Research Directorate E "Biotechnology, Agriculture and Food" Unit "Biotechnologies", BE
  • Carlo Heip - Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), NL
  • Dermot Hurst - Marine Institute, Galway, IE
  • Marcel Jaspers - Marine Biodiscovery Centre, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
  • Øyvind Lie - National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES), NO
  • Tadashi Matsunaga - Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, JP
  • Joel Querellou - French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER), FR
  • Victor Shahed Smetacek - Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven, DE
  • René Wijffels - Wageningen University, NL
  • Yonathan Zohar - Center of Marine Biotechnology, University of Maryland, US