News 2022

1 Dec 2022 Tissue samples made discoverable through GGBN

We are excited to announce that this year 253,163 new tissue samples have been made discoverable through the GGBN data portal, along with 233,503 new DNA samples, 2,307 new environmental samples, and 275 new herbarium specimens. Amongst those that provided data are Tooro Botanical Gardens, The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Research on Biological Resources, Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, National Museum of Natural History, and Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change.

21 October 2022 Registration for Universidad Nacional de Colombia Micro Organisms Collections Symposium: Management and Perspectives for Research Now Open

Latin America has a high diversity of microorganisms of importance in health, basic sciences and biotechnology. This event seeks to strengthen the management of microorganism collections and establish research and cooperation synergies in the region. Free event Registration form.

América Latina cuenta con alta diversidad de microorganismos de importancia en salud, ciencias básicas y biotecnología. Este evento busca fortalecer el manejo de colecciones de microorganismos y establecer sinergias de investigación y cooperación en la región. Evento gratuito Formulario de inscripción.

21 October 2022 Registration for Virtual Workshop on Data Management and Publication through GGBN Now Open

Registration is open now until October 23rd. Register today and share this with anyone who may be interested in attending.

Many thanks to the Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (INVEMAR), Colombia for organizing this event.

19 October 2022 GGBN 2023 Conference Website Now Online

The GGBN 2023 Conference website is now online with preliminary conference information, including conference dates and location, conference topics, and organizing committee members. Additional information on sessions, abstract submission and registration will follow later this fall.

16 September 2022 University of Wyoming Joins GGBN

We are happy to announce that the University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates [1] has joined GGBN as part of the GGBN Arctos Consortia membership. Genetic collections include 11,052 tissues representing 287 species of vertebrates.

15 September 2022 Biodiversity Biobanks South Africa Joins GGBN

We are happy to announce that the Biodiversity Biobanks South Africa has joined GGBN as a consortia member. Biobanks participating in this membership include:

• South African National Biodiversity Institute (Wildlife Biobank and Millennium Seedbank)
• South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (Aquatic Biodiversity Biobank)
• South African National Parks (Veterinary Wildlife Biobanks)
• Agricultural Research Council (Various biobanks, including fungi and nematode biobanks)
• University of Free State (Yeast Culture Collection)
• University of Western Cape (Microbial Biobank)

The BBSA is one of the projects under the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR) of the Department of Science & Innovation (DSI). The main aim of the BBSA is to increase the range and quality of biodiversity samples stored, and to increase and improve access for research and development.

11 July 2022 GGBN-GGI 2022 Award Program Results

We are happy to announce the results of the GGBN-GGI 2022 Awards Program. A total of four highly competitive proposals representing institutions across four countries were received and ranked by a peer review committee representative of GGBN membership. The panel ranked the proposals on the following metrics: complementarity to existing collections on GGBN; the size, scope, and quality of the collection; the genomic novelty of the collection; adherence to GGBN best practices; the efficiency or cost-effectiveness of the proposal; contribution to the GGBN community; and the timeline for completion. Priority consideration was given to proposals that represent institutions and collections 1) from the global south, 2) from countries with a low or middle-income (based on the latest WESP Economy by per capita GNI), and 3) that strategically address high-level taxonomic gaps in the GGBN Data Portal. The total funding requested was over 60,000 USD, just over 40,000 USD was awarded. Awardees will be contributing over 14,000 new genetic samples to the GGBN data portal by September 2024.

GGBN-GGI 2022 Awardees include: Kostrzyca Forest Gene Bank Oswaldo Cruz Foundation University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates

Congratulations everyone!

16 May 2022 GGBN 2023 Conference: October 17-20

The GGBN 2023 Conference hosted by the Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes/Mexico will take place from Tuesday October 17th-Friday October 20th. Please save the date.

15 April 2022 Steinhardt Museum of Natural History makes tissues discoverable through GGBN

We are happy to announce the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History in Tel Aviv has made 10,086 tissue samples discoverable through the GGBN data portal, including 669 genera, 76 of which are new to GGBN. The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History houses the largest, most important collection of East Mediterranean vertebrates (marine and fresh water, desert and Mediterranean vegetation) in the world. It contains thousands of tissue samples of taxa: from geographic variants to species and higher taxa not represented anywhere else.

12 April 2022 GGBN Newsletter

The GGBN 2022 Newsletter has just been released and is available through the GGBN Document Library 2022 Newsletter

07 March 2022 GGBN-GGI Awards Call

We are happy to announce the 2022 GGBN-GGI Awards Program. The program provides funding for projects that support the discoverability of new genetic collections through the Global Genome Biodiversity Network's Data Portal. The proposal review committee will consider requests for up to 20,000 USD with clearly articulated budget justifications. Priority consideration will be given to proposals that represent institutions and collections 1) from the global south, 2) from countries with a low or middle-income (based on the latest WESP Economy by per capita GNI), and 3) that strategically address high-level taxonomic gaps in the GGBN Data Portal. It is mandatory that all data from funded projects are made available online on the GGBN Portal before 1 September 2024. The submission deadline for 2022 proposals is Monday May 23, 2022.

For more information, please visit our information page.

07 February 2022 Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History is seeking an independent contractor

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History is seeking an independent contractor to provide administrative and project management support to the Global Genome Biodiversity Network General Secretariat Office for all GGBN activities. The contract period is for 12 months with options to extend.

Qualified individuals are invited to review the attached Request for Quotes (RFQ) and Statement of Work (SOW) for specifics. Details on what to include in the quote package and how to submit it are available in the RFQ. Interested parties should contact Katie Barker (barkerk@si.edu) for a copy of the RFQ and SOW.

Responses are due Monday, February 28th, 8am EST. Applicants should register as a federal contractor in the System for Award Management (SAM) concurrently to responding to the RFQ.

Please forward this announcement to any qualified candidates who might be interested. Feel free to contact me if there are any questions.

31 January 2022 United States National Science Foundation (NSF) Antarctic Biorepository Workshop (Feb 2-4)

The upcoming virtual United States National Science Foundation (NSF) Antarctic Biorepository Workshop (Feb 2-4) will include a variety of biologists and curators, including those from several GGBN member institutions, to discuss the development of a biorepository for Antarctic biological specimens! This 3-day workshop, led by co-chairs Dr. Elizabeth Crockett and co-chair Dr. Kristen O'Brian (Institute of Arctic Biology & Department of Biology and Wildlife University of Alaska, Fairbanks), aims to assess the current state of Antarctic collections, evaluate strategies for maximizing specimen visibility/accessibility, and address the need and scope for a biorepository of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic biological specimens. The agenda & more info can be found on the workshop website.

19 January 2022 PNAS Special Feature on Earth Biogenome Project Published

The PNAS special feature on the Earth Biogenome Project is now online, see: https://www.pnas.org/cc/the-earth-biogenome-project. GGBN is an EBP partner, co-authoring several publications as part of this special feature.