In 2018, the national ABS coordination body recommended the establishment of an information system capable of managing the traceability of biological samples, both over time and across geographical areas, in order to meet the regulatory obligations under the ABS regulations (Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilisation). At the same time, a broader regulatory need has emerged; certain biological samples or resources are not covered by the ABS regulations but may be subject to other regulations (CITES, customs and animal health requirements, transfers of resources, etc.). Finally, European funding schemes are increasingly requiring a high level of traceability and data sharing with the scientific community. Consequently, Ifremer has decided to extend the objectives of the MORSE project – which stands for Marine Organisms Resources Storage systEm – to all biological samples stored in the institute’s various laboratories.
MORSE objectives
- Manage the traceability, over time and across locations, of biological samples held by Ifremer
- Ensure compliance with the regulatory obligations under ABS and other applicable international and/or European regulations
- Enable users to search easily for a set of samples so that collections of biological resources can be shared both internally and externally
POKaPOK’s involvement
POKaPOK was involved in supporting the project management of the MORSE project. We were responsible for integrating traceability metadata into the data management systems deployed in Ifremer’s laboratories. POKaPOK also provided support to users of the ‘LabCollector’ tool (training, drafting of user procedures). We also provided support to Ifremer project managers with various regulatory procedures (particularly those relating to ABS).
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