Revision as of 16:35, 6 August 2019

27 June 2018-GGBN 2018 Conference slides now available

Presentations from GGBN’s 2018 Conference are now linked directly from the GGBN online conference program.

Slides may also be accessed through GGBN’s document library, under the GGBN 2018 Conference folder.

A report from the ABS workshop with direct links to the presentations will be posted soon.

21 June 2018-GGBN supports Joint Stakeholder statement on DSI

GGBN supports the Joint Stakeholder statement on Digital Sequence Information, along with 57 organizations, including public and private sector organizations, academic and scientific institutions, data repositories and collections at international, regional and national level, from Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa.

14 June 2018-DNA Bank of the Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes joins GGBN

We are proud to announce that the Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes has joined GGBN as its 72nd member. The collection comprises 813 DNA and 1166 tissue samples representing approximately 400 species from central Mexico.

09 June 2018-GGBN featured in Vienna's newspaper derStandard.at

The GGBN 2018 Conference made the papers in Vienna, see the full article entitled Die Vermessung der Arten on derStandard.at's website.

31 May 2018-Job advertisement-ANTARCTIC BIOLOGICAL AND MICROBIAL DATA MANAGER

The Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Science is looking for a master or Postdoc in molecular ecology for a contract of limited duration (October 2018-September 2019) who will join the Antarctic team of the Biodiversity and Ecosystems Data and Information Centre part of OD Nature. This team is in charge of the management of biodiversity and ecosystem data resulting, for example, from the federal monitoring programmes of the marine environment or from research projects in marine and Antarctic sciences.

AntaBIS (www.biodiversity.aq) is a BelSPO (www.belspo.be)-funded project that aims at constructing a dedicated Antarctic biodiversity virtual Laboratory in the framework of the EU Lifewatch program, providing tools for the discovery and analysis of Antarctic biodiversity data. Biodiversity.aq creates new ways of exploring and understanding Antarctic biodiversity by linking various online resources. Biodiveristy.aq contributes Antarctic biodiversity Data to global initiates such as the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (www.iobis.org) and the Global biodiversity Information Facility (www.gbif.org). The Register for Antarctic (Marine) species (www.marinespecies/RAMS) provides access to Antarctic taxonomic data and forms the taxonomic backbone for our other portals.

The data portal (data.biodiversity.aq) allows users explore and download Antarctic biodiversity. Our Microbial Antarctic Resource System (mARS.biodiversity.aq) is a unique platform that allows researcher to explore next generation sequencing data and environmental data (http://antabis.bedic.be/mars/).

We seek an enthusiastic data manager to assist in the construction of this Antarctic biodiversity virtual laboratory. The successful candidate will be responsible for publication of various types of biodiversity data. The main focus will be on enriching the content of the mARS portal and the further development and maintenance of this portal.

The Data Manager Officer will be offered a one-year, full time position starting September 1st, 2018 or as soon as possible, and will be based at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (www.naturalsciences.be). She/he will work under the supervision of the Project Promoter and in close collaboration with the AntaBIS data scientist. There is potential to extend the duration of the position but this will depend on available funding and positive evaluation.

The successful candidate will work for 12 months in the context of one of the Belgian Federal contributions to EU Lifewatch (www.lifewatch.be) This work will be done in collaboration with a wide variety of international collaborators. The work handles the data management component of this project, and focuses mostly on the microbial Antarctic Resource System (mARS) mARS.biodiversity.aq.

Tasks

• The development, the maintenance and the management of the mARS database (PostgreSQL,…) and of it’s query interfaces ;
• Harvesting of data in public repositories (e.g. genbank SRA) , contacting data providers and users; communications in English;
• Quality control of the data (environmental and DNA sequence information) using relevant data standards (e.g. Darwincore, TDWG), their archiving, their reporting and their scientific exploitation;
• Publication of data in mARS, OBIS and GBIF;
• In collaboration with AntaBIS staff and partners:

- Identify existing tools for the analysis of (microbial) Antarctic biodiversity data; - Evaluate online workflows using these tools and in particular their benefit to the Antarctic (microbial) research community - Participation in national and international projects dealing with marine data management.

DIPLOMA

• Candidates must hold a PhD or a Master degree in science or applied sciences, with a strong preference for a background bioinformatics or Antarctic Microbial biology.
• They will demonstrate a wide analytical insight and a strong interest in the technical side of data management.

TECHNICAL COMPETENCE

• Candidates should have a strong taste for bioinformatics; a good knowledge in data management and relational database, geospatial tools, biodiversity informatics standards.
• Experience with scientific programming (preferably using R and/or Python) as well as the use of software project hosting and version control systems such as GitHub or Gitlab.

GENERIC COMPETENCE

• Enthusiasm and an outstanding ability to collaborate in a multi-disciplinary and international team ;
• Good organisational skills ;
• Strong communication skills ;
• Can operate independently yet work as part of a distributed team.

ASSETS

• Having excellent networking and communication skills in English is absolutely required; a good working knowledge of additional European language(s), in particular Dutch and/or French, is an asset;
• Experience in microbial molecular research ;
• Experience working in polar research ;
• Experience with scientific networking on international level, and/or Antarctic research;
• Experience with relevant biodiversity data standards (TDWG, Darwincore, MiMarks, ….).

We offer

• A contract of limited duration for 12 months ;
• Remuneration of the wage scale for grade SW1 ;
• Free public transport between the city and the Institute.

The regular working place is located in 1000 Brussels (Vautierstraat 29, 1000 Brussels) , with the possibility of a few foreign missions (project meetings, conferences, …) per year. The wages will granted according to the rules in force for scientific staff of the federal administration. The employment contract has a fixed duration but may be extended condition to available funding and positive evaluation.

How to apply Send before 15 June 2018 your motivation and CV to: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences Anton Van de Putte Gulledelle 100 1200 Brussels Email: Avandeputte@naturalsciences.be or antonarctica@gmail.com with heading: job application AntaBIS-mARS

11 May 2018-University of Guelph's Genetic Archive adds roughly 1.5 million DNA extracts to GGBN

One of the planet’s largest collections of DNA samples – a genetic Noah’s ark held at the University of Guelph representing Canadian creatures from mites to whales — is now available to researchers through the GGBN Data Portal, adding roughly 1.5 million DNA extracts to GGBN's online collection, which now totals over 3.6 million records online.

See the University of Guelph's press release and GGBN's statistics pages for more information.

24 April 2018-Earth BioGenome Project refers to GGBN as world's major resource of tissues and DNA

The Earth Biogenome Project, an effort to sequence the DNA of all known eukaryotic species on Earth, refers to GGBN as "the world’s major resource of tissues and DNA from voucher specimens" in it's press release.

06 April 2018-GGBN 2018 Conference Program now available, registration open

The GGBN 2018 conference program is now available on our conference page. Please note that we are still accepting last minute registrations. For those who still wish to register, please do so here.

28 March 2018-Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden, University of Tartu joins GGBN

We are proud to announce that the Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden, University of Tartu has joined GGBN as its 71st member. The collection comprises 370,000 tissues representing plants, fungi and lichens, more than 250,000 tissues representing animals, 1,500 soil samples and 2,000 living cultures of fungi, in addition to 30,000 DNAs. Collections are estimated to represent more than 50,000 species of macroorganisms and greater than 100,000 species of microorganisms.

27 March 2018-GGBN annual newsletter now available

GGBN's March 2018 Newsletteris now available through the GGBN document library.

13 March 2018-Document Library Call for Content Managers

The sub/categories below currently have vacancies for Category Managers, and so present a great opportunity for people to take on these roles for their chosen category, join the Document Library Task Force team developing a world class knowledge exchange platform for genomic biodiversity biobanking, and help by participating in and contributing to GGBN activities globally. The library offers a perfect customized system for anyone interested in genomic biodiversity collections who wants to organize, curate (using tag/search functions etc), their own personal document library (papers, protocols, procedures, policies, best practices etc), enhance content by aggregation, and share with colleagues worldwide. If you would like to join us as a GGBN Document Library Category Manager (and we wholeheartedly recommend it!) please contact us at library@ggbn.org. We look forward to welcoming you on board!

•Biobank Management (including Governance, Business Models, Health and Safety) •Curation Protocols for Microorganisms (including specimen and sample field collection, sample preparation, shipping, laboratory curation and storage methods) •Research Protocols (including laboratory specimen and sample analysis: e.g. species specific extraction, amplification, sequencing for fresh and archival/ancient material) •Regulation and Legislation including CITES/ Shipping e.g. IATA regulations: Commercial Invoice/Shipping Inventory/Import-Export documentation /Other regulations and tools* (*full list to be decided)

22 February 2018-Webinar on Making DNA and tissue collections available by using the GGBN extensions with IPT now available

A recording of the February 21st Darwin Core Hour webinar on Making DNA and tissue collections available by using the GGBN extensions with IPT is now available at: http://idigbio.adobeconnect.com/pfvb99zx6nle/

06 February 2018-GGBN 2018 Conference: Important Dates & Deadlines Extended

Last chance to secure your EARLY BIRD TICKET! Please register here before February 26th!

GGBN 2018, the 3rd Conference of the Global Genome Biodiversity Network will take place in Vienna, Austria from May 22 - 25, 2018

Sessions are • Biodiversity – current challenges, future chances • Forest biological diversity – losses and gains • Why agricultural diversity matters • The hidden biodiversity • Amazing animals ex and in situ • Genebank management: sampling & preservation • Genebank management: data & analytics • ABS & Nagoya protocol

https://meetings.ggbn.org/conference/ggbn/2018/

05 February 2018-Finnish Museum of Natural History joins GGBN

We are proud to announce that the Finnish Museum of Natural History LUOMUS, University of Helsinki, Finland has joined GGBN as its 70th member. The collection comprises DNAs from 2200 Insecta, 500 Bivalvia and 500 Ascomycota and tissues from 4000 Vertebrata representing a total of 1055 species and higher taxa.

31 January 2018-Latest ISBER Best Practices, 4th Ed. now available

The most recent revision of ISBER Best Practices:Recommendations for Repositories Fourth Edition is out today.

25 January 2018-Mobilize Your Data: 2018 Call for Proposals to the GGBN-GGI Awards Program

We are happy to announce the 2018 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 submission deadline for proposals this year is 1 May 2018. The proposal review committee will consider requests for up to 30,000 USD with clearly articulated budget justifications. All data from funded projects must be made available online on the GGBN Portal before 1 September 2019.

11 January 2018-iDigBio’s Darwin Core Hour on February 21: Making DNA and tissue collections available using the GGBN extensions with IPT

In this Darwin Core hour we will give a brief overview about the Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN) and the GGBN Data Standard. This standard covers facts about DNA and tissue samples and complements Darwin Core and ABCD. We will demonstrate how to use the GGBN extensions with IPT in detail and how it looks like in the GGBN Data Portal.

Date: Wednesday, 21 February 2018 Time: 5 PM CET, 11 EST, 1 PM Buenos Aires Where: https://idigbio.adobeconnect.com/room For additional information, please visit the iDigBio website

09 January 2018-GGBN Data Portal User Survey: please participate by January 23

GGBN is assessing the usability and functionality of its website and data portal in order to better serve our user community. This survey is designed to gather your feedback concerning the ease of use of the GGBN (Global Genome Biodiversity Network) Data Portal (www.ggbn.org). As primary users, your input is essential for us as we continue to improve the site. Your honest and specific feedback is appreciated. Survey link

08 January 2018-Reminder: Early Registration for GGBN 2018 Conference by January 29

The organizing committee is pleased to announce the opening of registration and the call for abstract submissions.

Abstracts can be submitted after registration and payment have been completed. All submitted abstracts will be considered for short talks or poster presentations by the scientific committee. Please indicate during submission if you prefer a talk or a poster. Poster sessions will offer an additional possibility for scientific exchange.

For EARLY REGISTRATION please register before January 29th! Click HERE to register.

05 January 2018-Open access genomic resources for terrestrial arthropods paper published

Highlights •Biodiversity genomics research, relies on access to high quality DNA and/or tissue. •Global collection initiatives aim to provide genomic resources at high-quality standards. •The status of current genomic resources for terrestrial arthropods in biodiversity databases are reviewed here.

Vanessa L González, Amanda M Devine, Mike Trizna, Daniel G Mulcahy, Katharine B Barker, Jonathan A Coddington. Current Opinion in Insect Science. Volume 25, February 2018, Pages 91–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2017.12.003