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SAMS attracted around 100 delegates from around the world for three algae related meetings that were held back-to-back at Dunstaffnage from 2 to 11 June.
The series kicked off with a two-day workshop of the genome annotation consortium of the first fully sequenced seaweed, Ectocarpus siliculosus (an important marine fouling organism).
Led by French scientists from the Roscoff marine laboratory, the genetic material of this filamentous brown alga was sequenced in a three-year effort.
An international consortium of scientists has been working over the last year to decipher the vast amount of data, looking both for genes known from other organisms and for those which make Ectocarpus special.
This workshop was followed by a general conference on Ectocarpus and algal biology.
Topics covered biodiversity, taxonomy, algal-microbe interactions, as well as a synopsis of the genomics effort.
The weekend gave delegates the opportunity to collecting algal specimens around Dunstaffnage and included an excursion to the Taynish National Nature Reserve.
The algal meetings concluded with a two-day conference on algal culture collections, constituting "living libraries" of algal diversity around the world.
Besides an important role in fundamental research, such collections have a growing importance in providing reference strains for the biotechnology industry, fish farming and the development of biofuels.
The last evening, a dinner at the SeaLife Centre in Barcaldine with bag piping and Highland dancing, honoured Dr Michael Droop of Taynuilt, the first person to culture algae at the SMBA (as SAMS was then known), even before its move from Millport to Oban.
"The attendance of our conferences was impressive and the science discussions were very stimulating", said Dr Frithjof Küpper, chair of the conferences.
"Delegates had traveled from as far as Japan, Australia, Malaysia, the USA, India and most EU countries to come here.
The team members of the Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa and other SAMS colleagues did a truly awesome job to make this happen."
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