Development and Curation of Indigenous Microbial Resources Core Facility (MRCF)

Project Overview

Principal Investigator

Gloria I. B. Obioh

Background Information

Microbial Resources are the bedrock of sustainable bio-economy and successful biotechnology research and development. Their holdings are critical infrastructure for national development. The holdings are repositories for sustainable conservation and utilization of microbial genetic resources and support systems for biotechnology innovations in health, environment, bio-industries, agricultural systems and renewable energy. Besides keeping quality strains and conducting research, microbial repositories maintain the database and information about microbial genetic materials and isolated strains. At several national stakeholders’ consultative fora, sensitization workshops, seminars and dialogues, it was resolved that the development of a viable national programme on indigenous Microbial Resources Conservation (MRC) is critical for the realization of the nation’s targets in biotechnology research and development, and that NABDA being the National Designate Authority on Biotechnology initiates and hosts a Microbial Resources Core Facility (MRCF) where the national microbial  database would also be domiciled. This programme is new and received funding for the first time in 2021.

Objective and Scope

The main objective of the MRCF project isto develop a viable national programme on indigenous Microbial Resources Conservation (MRC) for the realization of the nation’s targets in biotechnology research and development, and also hosts a Microbial Resources Core Facility (MRCF) where the national microbial database would also be domiciled. Scope includes:

1. Facility Design and Construction.
2. Procurement and Installation of Critical Equipment.
3. Culture collection, identification, characterization and authentication for depository purposes.
4. Research and Curation.
5. Database and Information Services.

Milestones

1. Building design and Bill of Quantities are available
2. All drawings have been made
3. Setting out of the building is on-going.