The Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology Dummerstorf (FBN) will develop standardised processes for international farm animal research over the next three years as part of an infrastructure project funded by the EU (Horizon Europe). Funding of 2.65 million euros is available for the project led by FBN scientist Professor Christa Kühn. The kick-off meeting will take place on 27 February in Berlin. Alongside the cattle research network BovReg*, this is currently the second major EU project being carried out under the leadership of the FBN and Prof. Dr. Kühn.
"Developing sustainable livestock farming in a globalised world is a challenging task. Resource efficiency, taking into account local and global environmental and climate impacts, is just as much in focus as the welfare and health of the animals and the safety of the food obtained from them," emphasised Professor Christa Kühn. "We are pleased to be in a position of responsibility and be able to help shape the central cornerstones of a research landscape that is necessary for this."
Research infrastructure to be set up more efficiently
The FBN is coordinator of the European infrastructure project EuroFAANG (Accelerating genome to phenome research for farmed animals in Europe/https://eurofaang.eu/), which is a consortium of seven institutions from universities (Wageningen University & Research/Netherlands, University of Edinburgh/UK), research institutes (National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment/France, FBN/Germany, EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute/UK) and the European Forum of Farm Animal Breeders/Belgium from all over Europe.
The aim of the EuroFAANG infrastructure to be established is to bring together interdisciplinary competences for genotype-phenotype research in terrestrial and aquatic livestock and to ensure fair and standardised use of research data. To this end, EuroFAANG will develop concepts to bring together national institutions on a pan-European level in the areas of phenotyping and breeding as well as animal health and biodiversity as a new transnationally operating infrastructure within the ESFRI roadmap.
The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), founded in 2002, is a strategic instrument for developing Europe's scientific integration and strengthening its international competitiveness. Transparent and open access to high-quality research infrastructures is defined and organised for all scientific disciplines in so-called roadmaps. ESFRI 2021 has identified gaps within the long-term European Research Infrastructure specifically related to farm animal research.
"We want to address this gap identified by ESFRI with the project that has now been launched. The results of EuroFAANG will lead to an improved design of European research infrastructures for the promotion of excellent farm animal science and innovative research in genotyping and phenotyping in Europe and worldwide," emphasised Professor Christa Kühn. "Our common goal is sustainable resources for farm animal research as an important basis for the future of European animal husbandry."
Further information at www.esfri.eu
*www.fbn-dummerstorf.de/forschung/projekte/0061/
Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN)
Wilhelm-Stahl-Allee 2
18196 Dummerstorf
Executive Board Prof. Dr Klaus Wimmers
T +49 38208-68 600
E wimmers{at}fbn-dummerstorf.de
Institute of Genome Biology Head Prof. Dr Christa Kühn
T +49 38208-68 700
LinkedIn: @forschungsinstitut-nutztierbiologie-fbn
Twitter: @FBNDummerstorf
Instagram: @forschungsinstitut_fbn
