Microorganisms Collection
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Presentation Aidar & Kutner Microorganisms Collection - BMAK Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo Praça do Oceanográfico, 191 rooms 125A and 127 A Phone: +55 (11) 3091-6544 Collection: Collection of Marine Microalgae SISGen Registration: CF4970F |
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History
The Collection of Microorganisms Aidar & Kutner (BMAK) of the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo (IOUSP in Portuguese), was created by Dr. Clóvis Teixeira in the 1970s. Later, Dr. Elizabeth Aidar took over the coordination of the so-called “Bank of Marine Microorganisms (BMM)”, dedicated to expanding the collection with the isolation, purification and maintenance of strains of cyanobacteria and eukaryotic phytoplankton until 2000, when she passed away. In June 2013, the collection received its current name (BMAK) in honor of the researchers Dr. Elizabeth Aidar and Dr. Myriam Bertha Burda Kutner, specialist in phytoplankton taxonomy at IOUSP. The work of these pioneers continued and, today, BMAK constitutes the largest collection of marine microalgae in Brazil, representing an important reserve of genetic patrimony. The strains are available for studies of taxonomy, physiology, ecology, ecotoxicology, biotechnology and other research lines, for researchers and students at USP, as well as well as for people from other public and private institutions throughout Brazil.
Beyond the microalgae collection, BMAK has infrastructure to carry out experiments with microalgae cultures. In its more than forty years of existence, it has served countless students and researchers who have received training, made use of BMAK microalgae and facilities for their research. Several collections of Brazilian microalgae originated from the donation of BMAK inoculums and more than a hundred educational institutions, research and companies were supported by BMAK.
Among the most recent research developed at BMAK are the prospecting of production of biodiesel and ethanol from microalgae, studies of physiological responses to stress conditions (temperature, contaminants), heterotrophic use of residues such as sewage and vinasse, production of live feed for aquaculture, production of
toxins by microalgae, production of antitumor substances, in addition to the traditional application in taxonomic studies. As a result, BMAK is a national reference in terms of microalgae cultivation.
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Goals
- Preservation of biological resources related to marine phytoplankton in Brazilian waters;
- Support for teaching and research in the areas of taxonomy, biodiversity, ecology, physiology, ecotoxicology and biotechnology of marine microalgae;
- Optimization of culture conditions to maximize the production of bioactive as basic research aiming at the commercial and industrial use of microalgae.
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The Collection
BMAK has more than 230 strains of marine and estuarine microalgae of the Bacillariophyceae (diatoms), Dinophyceae (dinoflagellate), Haptophyceae, Prasinophyceae, Chlorophyceae, Chrysophyceae, Cryptophyceae and Cyanobacteria. Most of these strains were isolated by IOUSP researchers in Brazilian waters, but we also have strains from other collections, including from other countries. All strains have a serial number and are kept in unialgal and non-axenic cultures in Guillard f / 2 medium. The collection is located in an air-conditioned room and also in incubators with controlled temperature and photoperiod. For more information about the collection, visit: http://bmak.io.usp.br/.
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The facilities
In addition to the collection, BMAK has a multi-user air-conditioned room, containing eight benches on which it is possible to grow cultures up to 20L. Equipment such as laminar flow hood, autoclaves, microscopes,
image capture system, greenhouses, precision scale, kiln, freeze dryer, light meters, water bath, ultrasound bath and refrigerated centrifuge with 4L capacity, are available for users by appointment.
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Services
• Maintenance of strains in vivo in good physiological condition;
• Supply of strains;
• Provision of culture medium or stock solutions;
• Deposit of strains of marine microalgae and freshwater isolated from Brazilian waters;
• Availability of the air-conditioned room for experiments and equipment by appointment;
• Provision of teaching material for schools from elementary to higher education;
• Provision of training and qualification of personnel to work with cultures on a laboratory scale.
NOTE: The supply of strains is made under the conditions established in the IOUSP Ordinance 2018. For the request of strains, we need the Letter of Strain Request to be completed, signed and sent to the curator of the collection (Dr. Flávia Saldanha-Corrêa) at . When requesting BMAK strains, the researcher must commit to citing the origin of the strain and its collection identification code in any publication or material that can be produced with the use of strains. We also ask for these publications to be sent to BMAK in pdf files.
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Responsibility
Curator: Dra. Flávia Saldanha-Corrêa-
Support technicians: André Leonardo de Albuquerque Neves e Tomás Edison da Silva
Responsible teachers: Dr. Frederico P. Brandini e Dr. Daniel E.L. Lemos
Biological Oceanography Department of IOUSP
Director of IOUSP Prof. Dr. Elisabete de Santis Braga da Graça Saraiva
