Actua Innovació and the Genome Regulation Centre (CRG) signed on Monday, March 1st, a collaboration agreement positioning Andorra for the first time on the international map of genome sequencing, which among other things allows some of the country´s living beings to become a part of the international catalogue of biodiversity, following recommendations made by the European Commission in the fields of sustainability and ecosystem conservation.
On behalf of the Principality, the agreement was signed by the Secretary of State for Economic Diversification and Innovation, Marc Galabert, with the attendance of the director of Actua Innovation, Marc Pons. Galabert explained that “the agreement means a move closer for Andorra towards a field of knowledge that could provide many opportunities in human Health and biodiversity. In fact, it is the first time that the country takes part in a project of these dimensions”.
The Genome Regulation Centre of Barcelona is one of the pioneer research institutes in the world in the field of genomes, both in terms of investigation as well as the fostering of startups in the biomedical sector through the transfer of Technology. In this sense, the director of the CRG, Luis Serrano, pointed out “with a large number of endangered species, the planet is facing an unprecedented crisis. Genome sequencing of species is important in order to study the variability of populations and the existence of varieties that must be conserved, providing new knowledge to safeguard biodiversity, ecosystems, people´s health and global economies. high quality genome references only exist in a small fraction of European species. This agreement is a good first step to solving this problem”.
Actua Innovation at the ERGA consortium
The participation of Actua Innovation and the Centre for Snow and Mountain Studies in Andorra in the ERGA consortium alongside the CRG, will position Andorra the first time on the international map of genome sequencing of autochthonous species, providing data to this unique genome atlas project aimed at protecting biodiversity and contributing scientific knowledge of species evolution and adaptation, the therapeutic and biotechnological potential of certain active molecules from different kingdoms of living beings.
ERGA is an ambitious initiative aimed at capturing Europe´s biodiversity through the sequencing and generating of high-quality reference genomes. The objective is to sequence species which are relevant to agriculture, plagues, the functioning of ecosystems and to stabilize loss among endangered species.
“Given its geographical singularity (at almost 2000 meters, it is the country with the highest average altitude in Europe), and its ambition of becoming a Biosphere Reserve, Andorra provides ideal surroundings to carry out a pioneer project in genome biodiversity, a field in which the CRG wants to strategically position itself within Europe,” states Dr. Roderic Guigó.
The doctorate Grant
The agreement also contemplates the creation of a joint Doctorate Grant between Actua Innovation and the CRG. In its first edition, this grant has been assigned to the laboratory of Dr. Roderic Guigó, at the CRG. The beneficiary of the grant will become a part of Dr. Roderic Guigó Serra´s research group, centering its activity around Computational Biology of RNA processing in various applications. The CRG is an international biomedical research center with over 400 researchers from 41 countries and that is recognized by the European Commission as a center of excellence is research with the distinction ‘HR Excellence in Research´. CRG is a CERCA center, member of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), which has also been recognized with the distinction ‘Centre d’Excel·lència Severo Ochoa’, by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain.
The grant offered will provide the necessary competences for fields of research in interconnected areas such as genomes and transcriptomics, biostatistics and data analysis, applied to different areas like biodiversity or biosecurity, through the research of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, among others.
