CRB ANIM

CRB ANIM - Network of Biological Resource Centres for Domestic Animals

The goal of this project is to integrate and strengthen the biological resource centres (CRBs) which preserve reproductive material and genome material for the domestic animal species raised in France, including mammals, birds, fish and shellfish. The CRB-Anim network comprises public research organisations (INRA, CNRS); institutions of higher education (Université de Tours, Université de Rennes I, AgroParisTech, national veterinary schools); a science foundation (FRB) and two private platforms; GIE LABOGENA and the company ANTAGENE, which host genomic collections for breeders. This national infrastructure has six hubs located near Paris, Rennes, Tours and Lyons, which store about 530,000 biological samples (seeds, embryos, cells, tissue, DNA, RNA). CRB-Anim addresses two priorities of the National Research and Innovation Strategy: (1) health, diet and well-being; and (2) environmental urgency to preserve biodiversity. This project is one of the winners of the 2011 Investments of the Future call for projects and will receive €11 million over a total period of eight years. This project addresses two major challenges for science and society: the erosion of biodiversity, particularly in farmed species that are subjected to intensive breeding; and the boom in genomics, which ushers in a new era in understanding the relationship between phenotype and genotype and leveraging the phenotypic wealth achieved through the domestication of animals. This research work must have access to characterised biological samples and tools to cryopreserve biological resources.

Contact information :
Coordinator : Michèle Tixier-Boichard - michele.boichard@inra.fr
Project manager : Laure Akomia - laure.akomia@inra.fr
www.crb-anim.fr