OPEN-SOURCE DEVELOPMENT OF
GERMPLASM REPOSITORIES
The mission of the AGGRC is
to provide global leadership
for development of germplasm repositories
and commercialization of genetic resources for aquatic species through interdisciplinary
collaboration. Rather than positioning the AGGRC as a
central global repository, our approach is instead to develop technologies and practices and
provide services necessary to empower the multiple
and diverse communities within aquatic species to establish their own germplasm
repositories. Currently most work directly addresses the pervasive
lack of standardization and reproducibility that characterizes cryopreservation within
aquatic species. These problems have slowed research through
inefficiency and failure. Overall, although cryopreservation is possible at a research
scale, it is not being utilized to near full potential for
development of repositories or repository networks. The Center is directed by Dr. Terrence
Tiersch who has 25+ years of experience working with numerous
colleagues across hundreds of aquatic species and user communities addressing aquaculture,
wild fisheries, conservation, and biomedical models. Based
on this experience concerning the problems and opportunities for aquatic species, the AGGRC
is organized across four core program areas that span user
needs from research through industrial-scale application.