Unique core facility is founded at the Primorsky Aquarium.
The first Russian Shared Equipment Facility (SEF) for research in marine biology has started its work in the Primorsky Aquarium. The facility exists to provide scientists from all over the world with an opportunity to conduct investigations using state-of-the-art laboratories, equipment and biotechnological resources of the research complex.
“Up to now there have not been any marine biology core facilities in Russia,” said Inessa Diuizen, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Holder of Habilitation degree in Medicine, Head of the SEF at Primorsky Aquarium. “Our facility is unique not only due to its being first. Its principal feature is that all intellectual, methodological, technological, biological and instrumentation resources are housed in one place. Here scientists can carry out their investigations both pursuing their own scientific goals and participating in collaborative projects with researchers of the National Scientific Center of Marine Biology, FEB RAS. The Shared Equipment Facility has been established as a branch of the NSCMB, which is one of the largest research institutes engaged in marine biology.”
The SEF of the Primorsky Aquarium is fitted with cutting edge equipment that allows to perform research in various fields of marine biology. Some of its technical capacities surpass those of many Russian and foreign research institutes.
“Scientists can use the SEF equipment themselves or entrust the procedures to our highly trained personnel that are skillful at working with high end instrumentation,” Inessa Diuizen added.
A burgeoning project, which is jointly implemented by the National Scientific Center of Marine Biology, Far Eastern Federal University, Far Eastern State Technical Fisheries University, the Pacific Fisheries Research Center (TINRO-center) and the Pacific Oceanological Institute, can serve as an example of successful multilateral collaboration on the basis of the SEF.
The project involves basic and applied research in the fields of underwater acoustics, neurophysiology of marine mammals, ichthyology and aquaculture in the framework of the so-called “biotechnological training ground”. The resources of the SEF can be used to cooperate not only in scientific research but also in environmental education, as well as to organize international conferences and forums.
The idea of establishing the core facility in the Primorsky Aquarium has originated with academician Andrey Adrianov who often emphasized that it would be a research platform available to the worldwide research community.
“The National Scientific Center of Marine Biology has a broad experience in founding international laboratories and executing large scientific projects in partnership with Russian and foreign researchers,” Inessa Diuizen explained. “Since the SEF is located in close proximity to the Aquarium’s unique collection of marine animals, algae and invertebrates from almost all the world’s seas and oceans, it enables scientist to promptly and efficiently perform the research tasks. Now we are ready to collaborate and offer access to our resources for all interested scientists from Russia and foreign countries.”