The marine environment is a vast and fascinating one. It covers 71% of the world's surface – 335.3 million square kilometres – and has 377,412 km of coastline. It stretches from the icy poles to the tropical equator, and according to the first World Register of Marine Life (WoRMS), is home to 242,729 species, as of 19 January 2017. Depending on its their location, marine life has adapted to harsh environments, including extremely high and low temperature, lack of light and very high pressure. All of this incredible diversity makes the ocean and its residents a valuable resource for white (industrial), green (agricultural), grey (environmental), blue (marine) and red (medical) biotechnology, but to date only a small fraction of it has actually been explored. BIOPROSP_17 is a conference held every two years in Tromsø, in Northern Norway. It began with a focus on bioprospecting, and has expanded and grown to cover many different aspects of biotechnology. This year, it is being held at the UiT – Arctic University of Tromsø, and will look at opportunities to unlock the commercial potential of biomolecules from marine environments. The speakers for 2017 will include:
Want to know more? Browse through the full programme, see what's happening at the workshops, and read some of the pieces written about previous conferences:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI'm a freelance science writer, beekeeper, and crocheter living above a bookshop and am constantly excited about science Archives
April 2017
Categories |