EMBRC-FRANCE is the French node of the European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC-ERIC) with distributed installations at the marine stations Station Biologique de Roscoff (SBR), Institut de la Mer de Villefranche (IMEV) and the Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls-sur-Mer (OOB). Through the SU, these marine stations offer the following services:

Ecosystem Access: groups the seagoing (“moyens a la mer”) services of three marine biological stations. Each station has a diving team with a scientific background, several small boats, and one >10 m coastal research vessel with crew, the latter operated by the French Oceanographic Fleet (FOF), in coordination with EMBRC-France. “Moyens a la mer” offers the expertise and equipment of diving teams and oceanographic vessels for accessing the ecosystems and marine organisms located near three biological stations. Altogether the ecosystems and biological resources accessible present a high diversity, ranging from Atlantic to Mediterranean habitats, including a megatidal system and deep/open ocean environments related to the presence of near-shore canyons at two locations. The three >10m coastal research vessels operate up to 20 miles offshore, whereas the 7 smaller boats allow the versatility required for near-shore sampling and experimentation. All three stations are involved in the EMOBON project and follow its standardised protocols.

Biological Resources: groups the collection of wild organisms from the coastal ecosystems near the stations, the access to unique microorganism collections (Roscoff Culture Collection with more than 6000 strains, Banyuls Bacterial Culture Collection with bacterial strains of bioprospecting interest, the Mediterranean Culture Collection of Villefranche, specialised on dinoflagellates, and the collection of mutant strains of diatoms), a biobank of fixed strains (the Center for Planktonic Collections de Villefranche) and the rearing of aquatic organisms in experimental conditions (aquaria, mesocosmos, etc.), including the whole life cycle of many aquatic model organism.

Technological Platforms: offers access to a suite of cutting-edge instruments specialised (but not restricted to) the analysis of samples of marine origin. The service includes sequencing/genomic analysis (Genomer, Bio2Mar), imaging (PIM, PIQ, MerImage, BioPIC) and structural analysis (Bio2Mar, CrystalO, Metabomer). Equipment includes Sanger and next-generation sequencers, qPCR, optical and electron (SEM/TEM) microscopes, flow cytometers (FCM), cell-sorters (FACS) quantitative imaging devices, gas and liquid chromatography (GC, HPLC) and a variety of mass spectrometers (GC-MS and LC-MS), and an X-ray diffraction system. Technical staff provide expert advice and assistance for sample preparation, analysis and data processing. The equipment and the expertise of the scientific-technical staff allow the identification, isolation and characterisation of compounds produced by marine organisms; the genotyping of marine organisms; studies on biodiversity based on genomic or image analysis; and studies on the development of different marine organisms.