IT Officer position for MIRRI
IT officer position available at the Spanish Type Culture Collection – University of Valencia (CECT-UV), UV Science Park, Catedràtic Agustín Escardino Benlloch, 9, Paterna, Valencia.
Gross salary 38.000 €
The contract will be bounded to the project IS_MIRRI21, funded by Horizon 2020, to implement the Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure (MIRRI).
Official call and procedure to apply: Soon available.
For contact information see below.
Estimated commencement date and duration: From November 2021 to February 2023. Prolongation possible subject to the availability of funds and extension of the project.
REQUIREMENTS
Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field. Bachelor’s degree in Biology, Biotechnology or a related field.
PROFILE OF THE WORKING POSITION
IT officer specialized in programming and database management.
QUALIFICATIONS/SKILLS
- Experience in web development tools (jQuery, Vue.js, Agilent, BootStrap, etc.)
- Experience in web programming languages (php, Python, javascript, typescript, etc.)
- Knowledge of cloud services PaaS and SaaS
- Experience in relational (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.) and non-relational (MongoDB, etc.) database management systems
- Working experience in Internationally Distributed Research Infrastructures in particular, or at least in Research Infrastructures in general
- Participation in research projects related with biodiversity (preferably) or with Life Sciences (in general) would be an asset
- Proficiency in English (oral and written)
TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Manage the MIRRI applications generated within the project
- Manage users according to specifications to ensure access and availability of the system resources
- Give IT support to MIRRI’s Central Coordinating Unit
- Contribute to the design of an interoperable virtual platform providing the MIRRI service offer, ensuring data privacy and security, in collaboration with the Center for Computer Graphics (CCG) based in Braga (Portugal)
- Contribute, together with CCG, in the development of a MIRRI virtual platform to compile, prepare, enrich, store and process a large amount of heterogeneous data (different sources and formats), allowing access to data services related to biological material (MIRRI-IS)
- Contribute, together with the MIRRI ICT team, to export the catalogue data of MIRRI Culture Collection partners to be incorporated into the MIRRI-IS database
- Act as a link of MIRRI-IS with CECT-UV, CCG and LifeWatch (Spain)
- Participate in the project’s tasks (assistance to meetings, elaboration of reports, etc.)
- Willingness to travel to different European cities, mainly to Braga
CONTACT: jmlopez@cect.org
Exhibition "Extraordinary microorganisms"
Escovopsis aspergilloides (Credits: Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, Utrecht, Netherlands)
Photo exhibition on the occasion of the International Day on Microorganisms
September 17, 2021 – October 31, 2021
On the occasion of the International Day on Microorganisms (September 17), the exhibition “Extraordinary Microorganisms” (open until October 31) was inaugurated at the Turin Botanical Garden. 44 photos taken at 27 European research centers with sophisticated microscopy techniques are exhibited.
The exhibition was organized by the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology and by the Mycotheca Universitatis Taurinensis (MUT) of the University of Turin with the collaboration of the European Culture Collections’ Organization (ECCO) and the support of the CRT Foundation.
The photographs are accompanied by a brief description in Italian and English of the role of that microorganism in the environment and in various biotechnological processes. Along the way, insights are offered through a QR-code system.
Aspergillus discoforus (credits Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, Utrechts, Netherlands)
If you want to read more, see the following pages (in Italian):
- University of Turin:
Mostra microrganismi straordinari - La Stampa:
Microrganismi Orto Botanico Torino - Repubblica:
Microrganismi Orto Botanico Torino - Turismo Torino:
Inaugurazione della Mostra fotografica Microrganismi straordinari - LaVoce di Torino:
All’Orto Botanico la mostra Microrganismi straordinari - In salute news:
Perché virus batteri e microalghe sono il futuro del nostro pianeta sfata i pregiudizi sui microrganismi - ANSA:
Virus e batteri futuro del pianeta - Greenreport:
Microrganismi straordinari: perché virus batteri lieviti funghi e microalghe sono il futuro della terra
Symposium on Appreciation and Conservation of Microbial Resources
MIRRI and IS_MIRRI21 will be presented by Dr. Aurora Zuzuarregui from UVEG-CECT on September 8, 2021, at 15:50 CET, at the Chilean III Symposium on Appreciation and Conservation of Microbial Resources.
The agenda can be found at: https://www.cchrgm.cl/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Programa_III_SIMP_VAL.pdf
Free registration is still open. See here.
We kindly ask you to please share this announce with your colleagues who might be interested in participating.
IS_MIRRI21 Newsletter #3 is out!
The IS_MIRRI21 Newsletter #3 has been issued.
Here are some of its highlights:
- MIRRI receives a delegation from the European Council
- Four researchers awarded with funded access to MIRRI/IS_MIRRI21 facilities in 2021
- The Joint Research Unit MIRRI-IT: status and undergoing activities
- IS_MIRRI21 and MIRRI’s participation in future events
- Successful launch of IS_MIRRI21/MIRRI two matchmaking events
- IS_MIRRI21 partners organize a public event for the World Microbiome Day 2021!
- MIRRI launched its online platform at www.mirri.org
Register today and start receiving your copy of the IS_MIRRI21 Newsletters by email.
IS_MIRRI21 Newsletters intend to present the project to its wide-ranging target audiences and inform them about the relevant activities within the project and the achievements that the consortium expects to go in the direction of MIRRI’s stakeholders’ interests and aspirations.
IS_MIRRI21 challenges the users to communicate with it to continue strengthening the MIRRI community as never before and visit its website and social media to stay updated on IS_MIRRI21’s activities.
See all IS_MIRRI21 Newsletters here.
Up to today, three issues have been delivered and you can reach them singularly:
Newsletter #1
Newsletter #2
Newsletter #3
IT officer position for MIRRI
IT officer position available at the Spanish Type Culture Collection – University of Valencia (CECT-UV), UV Science Park, Valencia.
The contract will be bounded to the project IS_MIRRI21, funded by Horizon 2020, to implement the Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure (MIRRI)
Estimated duration: from October 2021 to February 2023. Prolongation possible subject to the availability of funds and extension of the project. Gross salary 38,000 € / year.
REQUIREMENTS
Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field.
Bachelor’s degree in Biology, Biotechnology or a related field.
Official call and procedure to apply: https://links.uv.es/cect2/IT_Officer
See details in the official announcement leaflet.
CONTACT: jmlopez@cect.org
Webinar "Microorganisms are allies"
The one-hour webinar will be presented by partners and experts from the IS_MIRRI21 project with background in microbiology and biotechnology who will convey the messages based on their field and professional experiences. The event will be a combination of presentations, quizzes and videos with dedicated sessions for the audiences to ask questions and interact with the speaker.
The key objectives of the event are:
- Present how EU funded projects such as IS_MIRRI21 are supporting the research and innovation ecosystem;
- Give an overall overview of how culture collections are used to preserve biodiversity and the roles of microbes in the sustainability of the environment;
- Discuss how microorganisms can be used by each and every citizen to create a sustainable world.
Agenda
| 11:00 | Welcome and introduction to speakers Tedora Aibu (SPI) |
| 11:05 | Demo session: Microbiome and Microorganisms for a Sustainable World Anna Poli (UNITO) |
| 11:20 | Let’s play: Quiz on microbial biodiversity and sustainability Giulia Cheloni (INRAE), Anna Poli (UNITO), Tedora Aibu (SPI) |
| 11:30 | Who we are and what we do in IS_MIRRI21/MIRRI Tedora Aibu (SPI) |
| 11:35 | Culture collections and their role in microbial biodiversity preservation and exploration Giulia Cheloni (INRAE) |
| 11:45 | Open floor: Q&A |
| 11:55 | Closing |
Contact us
For any additional information, please contact us at Franciscorocha@spi.pt and tedoraaibu@spi.pt.
MIRRI @ Ecomondo
La prof.ssa Giovanna Cristina Varese, Coordinatrice di MIRRI-IT, ha introdotto MIRRI e il contributo della Joint Research Unit MIRRI-IT con la presentazione “I mille volti dei microorganismi per la salute del suolo e lo sviluppo sostenibile: il ruolo della Joint Research Unit MIRRI-IT” nell’ambito del Webinar “Il mondo dei microrganismi del suolo: una risorsa da valorizzare per proteggere e salvaguardare la salute e la qualità dei suoli agricoli, le produzioni agroalimentari e l’ambiente“, organizzato da ENEA il 9 giugno 2021 sulla Piattaforma Digitale di Ecomondo come parte delle Digital Green Weeks.
Il suolo è una risorsa naturale di grande valore che contiene la più grande quantità di biomassa vivente dell’intero pianeta. La complessa rete di interazioni che si instaurano tra la moltitudine di esseri viventi presenti nel suolo contribuisce al mantenimento del suo stato di salute ed è alla base di beni necessari alla nostra sopravvivenza.
Il webinar ha voluto essere un momento di approfondimento e confronto sugli strumenti da mettere in atto per la difesa del suolo e la valorizzazione della biodiversità microbica. Garantire e promuovere la gestione sostenibile del suolo sta diventando sempre di più una priorità strategica e un tema trasversale che collega le aree della sicurezza alimentare, del cambiamento climatico, della biodiversità e della desertificazione.
L’infrastruttura di ricerca MIRRI rappresenta la più grande infrastruttura europea che si occupa di salvaguardare la biodiversità microbica e garantire la conservazione e la distribuzione dei microorganismi per favorire la sostenibilità ambientale, sviluppo biotecnologico e crescita della bioeconomia. Consorzi microbici multifunzionali composti da diverse specie con tratti complementari o sinergici sono i candidati di eccellenza per favorire l’aumento della produttività in presenza di stress biotici e abiotici, e contrastare il degrado del suolo, riducendo l’input di pesticidi e fertilizzanti azotati. La sfida è valorizzare la biodiversità microbica del suolo per aiutare la transizione agroecologica dell’agricoltura verso sistemi che salvaguardano il suolo e forniscono diete sani e sostenibili, in grado di conciliare i bisogni umani con la salute del Pianeta.
La presentazione è accessibile tramite questo link: MIRRI @ Ecomondo (PDF, Italiano).
ECCO XXXIX Virtual Meeting
We are glad to post the announcement of the next ECCO XXXIX Meeting on behalf of the organizers.
ECCO XXXIX Virtual Meeting
22-24 September, 2021
On behalf of the ECCO Board and the Local Organising Committee, Public Health England (PHE) Culture Collections would like to invite you to attend the 39th Annual Meeting of the European Culture Collections’ Organisation.
Following an unprecedented year and the postponement of the 2020 meeting due to COVID, this year the ECCO meeting will be held online for the first time in its history. Hosting of this meeting forms part of the centenary celebrations of PHE Culture Collections’ National Collection of Type Cultures (NCTC) one of the longest-established collections of its type which entered its 100th year in 2020.
Through six focussed sessions this virtual meeting aims to celebrate and debate culture collections, their history, present-day relevance and applications, and future direction. Topics include the role, validation and use of culture collections, access and benefit sharing and contributions to research and collaborative projects, microbiomes and the challenges of microbiome biobank development, the need for quality, safety, biosecurity and transportation standards, and advances in bioinformatics and data management.
Programme details will be available soon, and registration and abstract submission will open in June.
We look forward to connecting with you online in September!
Dr Bryan Bolton
Interim Head of PHE Culture Collections
Culture Collections as Hidden Sources of Microbial Biomolecules and Biodiversity
Guest Editors are inviting to consider submitting a manuscript to “Diversity” for a Special Issue on “Culture Collections as Hidden Sources of Microbial Biomolecules and Biodiversity”.
See the Editorial at https://doi.org/10.3390/d12070264.
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2021.
The application of modern advanced techniques in molecular biology is revealing unexpected high levels of microbial diversity and complexity. However, the invisible loss of microbial diversity in the environment deriving, for example, from global changes and anthropogenic activities, is not really perceived.
In this context, culture collections worldwide has become a valuable resource for the sustainable use of microbial diversity and its conservation. They provide pure cultures and genetic materials that are required for a number of research (including systematics) and teaching purposes, as well as for bioprospecting aims (i.e., the search for novel bioproducts) and their subsequent exploitation in biotechnological fields (e.g., pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, cosmeceutical, agricultural, and food industries, as well as biorestoration).
For this Special Issue, Guest editors are looking for experimental studies and reviews relating to any aspect of the diversity, physiology, conservation, molecular biology, and biotechnology of prokaryotes and eukaryotes from microbial collections.
Keywords:
- Microbial isolates
- Culture collections
- Biotecnonological value
- Biodiversity conservation
More information about the special issue is available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/diversity/special_issues/culture_collections.
Guest Editors
Dr. Angelina Lo Giudice, Institute of Polar Sciences (CNR-ISP), National Research Council, Messina, Italy
Dr. Carmen Rizzo, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, National Institute of Biology, Messina, Italy
LTP database released
A valuable resource particularly for microbial taxonomists
After more than 1 year of work, the LTP database has been released.
The joint effort of the LTP team under the support of Elsevier, and specifically Systematic and Applied Microbiology, has resulted in the current release available at https://imedea.uib-csic.es/mmg/ltp/.
The new LTP database contains the sequences of all type strains with validly published names until December 2020, as well as all sequences of new species not yet listed in the notification lists of the IJSEM, but published in this journal.
This release has three major features:
- An improved alignment:
The LTP database in ARB format contains a new alignment that is derived from the improvement of the former universal alignment, but which has accommodated the new released sequences as well as it has been thoroughly revised. In addition, the LTP offers several conservational filters and gap and termini filters useful to reconstruct phylogenies and evaluate topologies. - New reconstructions of the global phylogeny of the classified species:
Two trees have been prepared, one with the best sequences and another containing in addition the sequences with more compromised phylogenetic signals. According to authors, this may be the best and most robust 16S rRNA gene phylogenies yet reconstructed. The trees are the result of evaluation of multiple maximum likelihood reconstructions. - List of taxa in the need to be evaluated:
In the accompanying manuscript that describes this release (Ludwig et al., 2021), the process of curation and tree reconstruction are explained and lists of taxa that may be susceptible of being evaluated and perhaps reclassified are provided. Taxa that do not fit in their overall taxonomic and phylogenetic framework have been highlighted.
See the information at:
Ludwig, W., Viver, T., Westram, R., Gago, J.F., Bustos-Caparros, E., Knittel, K., Amann, R., Rossello-Mora, R. (2021) Release LTP_12_2020, featuring a new ARB alignment and improved 16S rRNA tree for prokaryotic type strains. Syst Appl Microbiol 40: 126218. DOI: 10.1016/j.syapm.2021.126218.
Elsevier has granted this manuscript 6 months of free access for all who are interested in this new release.
Since December 2020, more than 400 species have been published and also there have been important changes in the classification (for example the Deltaproteobacteria). In about 1 month time, the LTP will be updated to offer the best proxy to the phylogeny of the classified taxa.
Enter in https://imedea.uib-csic.es/mmg/ltp/ to download the database and accompanying information, and register for a mailing list of users that want to get updated with the news and releases.