Overview

The Institute for Biological Resources and Marine Biotechnology (IRBIM) is part of the Italian National Research Council (CNR). Its headquarter is in Messina and the other three sections are in Ancona; Lesina and Mazara del Vallo.

The Institute conducts research in topics relevant to marine science such as:

• Biology and ecology of marine organisms, including alien and invasive species
• Population structure, connectivity and spatial distribution of principal fishery resources
• Marine microbial ecology, microbial biotechnologies and bio-prospecting
• Technological and innovative developments in fisheries and aquaculture
• Study of marine ecosystems structure and functioning
• Integrated coastal zone management, marine spatial planning and sustainable use of resources (fishery, aquaculture and marine genetic resources)

 

Ecosystem access

• Coastal research vessel (on-site)
  • Small coastal vessels for sampling coastal waters
• Sampling equipment (on-site)
  • Sampling equipment for collecting water and sediment samples (Niskin, box-corer, etc)

 

Biological resources

• Species collected upon request (on-site)
  • Species from the Strait of Messina, Capo Peloro brackish system (Ganzirri and Faro)

 

Experimental facilities

• Aquaria and tanks (on-site)
  • Twelve fiberglass tanks of about 1.4 m³ and two ones of 5 m³. Hydraulic system guarantees 12 complete renewals in 24 hours. Natural photoperiod and termoperiod. The facility is authorized by Italian Ministry of Health for animal experimentation pursuant to Decree Law 26/2014.
• Mesocosms (on-site)
  • Two indoor large tanks of rectangular shape (volume of 11,250 L each). One of these tanks is divided onto three fully independent compartments of 3,750 L volume each. 
  • Two outdoor large tanks of circular shape (volume of 157,000 L; 10 m diameter and 2 m depth each). 

 

Technology platforms

• Molecular biology and omics (on-site)
  • Platforms for microbial diversity, genomic and metagenomic analysis and bioinformatics
• Remote sensing and telemetry (on-site)
  • Monitoring

 

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