The Spanish Bank of Algae (BEA) is an infrastructure of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, managed by the Fundación Canaria Parque Científico Tecnológico (FCPCT) of ULPGC. BEA is Spain’s official and public collection that serves as a depository and provider of algal and cyanobacterial strains, with the aim of facilitating and promoting scientific activity and technology transfer in the field of blue biotechnology. Its mission includes bioprospecting, isolation, identification, characterization, maintenance, and cultivation of algae and cyanobacteria, combined with specialized training and the development of cultivation programs and biomass valorization within various public and private research projects related to the production and biotechnological use of algae. All of this is carried out within a framework of sustainable biodiversity use and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the genetic resources of States, in accordance with the Nagoya Protocol. BEA is a member of ECCO and WFCC, is listed in the WFCC-MIRCEN database, and is accredited by the Government of Spain as an International Depository Authority for microorganisms. BEA is also a member of ASEBIO (the Spanish Bioindustry Association), the Blue Biotechnology and Aquaculture Platform, and is part of the BIOASIS Gran Canaria platform as well as the European research infrastructures MIRRI and EMBRC.
BEA in NATUR-EXT: will participate by conducting a bibliographic selection of strains, assessing their chemical composition, ability to thrive in cultivation systems, productivity, and biomass harvesting and processing methods. Based on this selection, a strain producing emerging compounds will be chosen and cultivated for further biochemical characterization, extracting emerging compounds for biochemical characterization of the extracts and residual biomass, in the search for novel applications of interest.