Services

The Station Biologique de Roscoff (SBR) is a research and training centre in marine biology and oceanography and was founded in 1872 by Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers, Professor at the Sorbonne University. Based on the high biodiversity and variety of habitats in the area. Today, it has become a world-renowned research and training centre in marine biology and ecology, with circa 300 staff on a 20.000 m2 campus, jointly operated by the Sorbonne Université (SU) and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). The Station Biologique de Roscoff is part of the National Infrastructure EMBRC France – French node of EMBRC.

Research covers aspects from genes to the marine environment and includes the study of biological processes in marine organisms, the discovery of bioactive molecules of marine origin for potential therapeutic applications, the study of the marine environment and the way it shapes ecosystems, populations and organisms, and the functional and evolutionary processes that structure marine biodiversity.

Bioresources available

• Culture collections (On-site and remote service)

  • Roscoff Culture Collection (RCC) maintains over 5000 strains of marine phytoplankton, bacteria and viruses.

  • Microalgae

    • Cyanobacteria: Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus;

    • Prasinophytes:

    • Ostreococcus tauri,

    • Bathycoccus prasinos and Micromonas pusilla;

    • Coccolithophore: Emiliania huxleyi

• Marine model organisms (On-site and remote service)

  • Access provided on-site and remotely of:

  • Dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula) eggs

  • Ascidians (Ciona intestinalis, Phallusia mammilata)

  • Sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus)

  • Acoel (Symsattigifera roscoffensis)

• Species collected upon request (On-site and remote service)

  • Collection and supply of local marine flora and fauna specimens from Morlaix Bay / Brittany coast (collection on foot, by diving or by boat)

  • All organisms can be provided on site / most organisms can be sent to external labs

Support offered

Scientific and technical support will be provided already at the preparation of the proposal to be presented in each TA call, in order to suit the user’s needs.

The potential users will be supported from the beginning by the Access Managers to:

• 1) identify the services more suitable to their needs,

• 2) identify the scientific-technical contact that would contribute in the preparation of the proposal, and

• 3) support the user in the presentation of the request.

Once the access request is accepted, the Local Access Officer will support the user from the logistic and administrative point of view, providing the information for reaching the station and tracking the documents that will allow the presence of an external user in the station (host agreement, badges, etc.).

During the project execution, the user will have continuous technical and scientific support. The possibility of being hosted in the station, supported by the Hosting services, boosts the interaction with the larger scientific and technical community of researchers at the station.

Modality of access

The user would have access to:

• 1) a wide range of microorganisms of aquaculture interest, both as feed for larval stages or filter feeding aquaculture organisms, and as a source of compounds of interest (such as omega-3, vitamins, pigments, etc.);

• 2) organisms of interest for aquaculture production, such as macroalgae;

• 3) aquaculture facilities of different scales (from aquaria to mesocosms) and circulation systems;

• 4) and analytical platforms on-site that allow an immediate, almost real-time analysis of the experimental set-up.