The Asian Network of Research Resource Centers (ANRRC: President, Dr.Shuang-Jiang LIU (Director-General of IM-CAS), established to form a network of Asian biorepository institutions in order to promote science, technology and innovation in Asia, held its 10th International Meeting in the Korea Science and Technology Center, Seoul, Korea from September 5 (Wed) to 7 (Fri), 2018.

There were 156 participants from various Asian repositories of bioresources in 11 countries, 52 oral and 52 poster presentations.
The 11th Meeting (ANRRC2019) will take place in the Republic of Philippines.

Plenary Lectures
Chair : Dr. Shuang-Jiang Liu (Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IM-CAS), China)

Plenary lectures were given by the following three, successive ANRRC Presidents.
Dr. Yeonhee Lee (Seoul Women's University, Korea) reviewed the background of ANRRC establishment, International Meetings up to the 7th, and human resources development in ANRRC. Also, Dr. Lee outlined ISO TC276 and ISO 20387, the international management standards relating to quality standards of bioresources, suggesting that we should pay attention to the future international trends over the "certified BRCs".
Dr. Yuichi Obata (RIKEN BRC, Japan) talked on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and listed the 7 Goals among 17 which are within the scope of our ANRRC activities, stating that each of ANRRC should re-evaluate and re-organize its activities and research system in order to contribute to the achievement of these Goals. Furthermore, Dr. Obata focused on high-throughput sequencing using NGS as well as genome editing technology and overviewed the latest research trend in genome editing technologies. Assuming that bioresources developed with genome editing technologies will be deposited to resource centers in near future, he stated that staff members of ANRRC need to be familiarized with genome editing in preparation for accepting such resources.
Dr. Shuang-Jiang Liu (IM-CAS, China) focus on Microfluidic streak plate technology, a powerful tool for microbiome research and introduced a case of microbiome research in mouse resources. Dr. Liu emphasized the importance of establishing not only model mice with specific diseases but also the individual bacterial strains composing the microbiome, as bioresources.

Session 1. Biodiversity and ABS
Chair : Dr. ShyamKumar Sharma (CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, India) and Dr. Kyounghee Oh (National Institute of Biological Resources, Korea)

S1-1

Dr. Feng-Yan Bai (IM-CAS, China) reported the biodiversity of yeast from far East Asia.

S1-2

Dr. Ai-Hua Li (IM-CAS, China) reported the biodiversity of aerobic anoxygenic photoheterotrophic bacteria in crater lakes.

S1-3

Dr. Kyounghee Oh (National Institute of Biological Resources, Korea) introduced the response to Nagoya Protocol in Korea.

S1-4

Dr. ShyamKumar Sharma (CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, India) introduced their current status in the implementation of Nagoya Protocol.

S1-5

Dr. Myunghyun Chung (Korea University Legal Research Institute, Korea) introduced their response to Nagoya Protocol in Korea.

S1-6

Dr. Honglada Thoetkiattikul (National Science and Technology Development Agency, Thailand) introduced their response to Nagoya Protocol in Thailand.

S1-7

Dr. Mutsuaki Suzuki (National Institute of Genetics, Japan) introduced their response to Nagoya Protocol in Japan and the comment published in Japan on digital sequence information

Session 2. New Methodology & Application (Microbial Resources)
Chair : Dr. Lily Eurwilaichitr (National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC), Thailand) and Dr. Maria Auxilia T. Siringan (Natural Science Research Institute, Philippines)

S2-1

Dr. Weerawat Runguphan (BIOTEC, Thailand) reported their project for developing yeast strains effectively producing biofuel/biochemical by employing CRISPR/Cas system

S2-2

Dr. Bo Yu (IM-CAS, China) reported their research to manufacture biochemical by modifying Thermotolerant Bacillus coagulans.

S2-3

Dr. Siringan reported their efforts to develop a bio-fertilizer using microbes isolated from rice rhizosphere.

S2-4

Dr. Lily Eurwilaichitr (BIOTEC, Thailand) reported that TBRC and BIOTECH are serving as the hubs of microbiological research in Thailand, in order to utilize their abundant microbial resources to the realization of a new economic model "Thailand 4.0".

S2-5

Dr. Sang-Seob Lee (Korea Environmental Microorganisms Bank, Korea) reported practical application of bacteria for purification of wastewater containing environmental pollutants in sewage plants.

S2-6

Dr. Marian P. De Leon (University of the Philippines Los Banos College, Philippines) reported antibiogram profile of pathogenic bacteria from bat Guano of a Philippine cave.

S2-7

Dr. Masako Takashima (RIKEN BRC, Japan) reported the activity of RIKEN BRC in recent years and research outcomes using genome information of eukaryotic microbes determined and published under the NBRP program

Session 3. ELSI Issues of Biobanking
Chair : Dr. Soo-Yong Tan (National University of Singapore, Singapore)

S3-1

Dr. Soo-Yong Tan (National University of Singapore, Singapore) reported the issues for tissue banks to continue its operation. Among those, he reported the current status that their valuable specimens derived from patients are inaccessible for some researchers as they are too expensive.

S3-2

Dr. Daniel Catchpoole (Biospecimens Research and Tumour Bank, Australia) demonstrated the results of questionnaire on "patient engagement" in tumour bank of the Children's Hospital at Westmead (Sydney) which indicate how actively patients are involved in biobanking activity. He reported that biobanks are of great significance for them.

S3-3

Dr. Young Joo Cha (Human Serum Bank, Korea) reported the activity of Human Serum Bank (HSB) and introduced their facility. She reported that the samples provided by HSB are contributing to the development of in vitro diagnostic devices (IVDs).

S3-4

Dr. Won Bok Lee (Ewha Law School, Korea) introduced Korea's Privacy law and Research subject protection law, referring to the laws and regulations in Japan and the USA.

S3-5

Dr. Marianna Bledsoe (International Society for Biological Environmental Repositories, USA) reported the collection, preservation and utilization methods of human biospecimens in the USA as well as related regulations and policy developments. In particular, she reported the outline of "Common Rule" that was amended last year in response to recent rapid expansion of research community and its impact on biospecimens and biobanks.

Session 4. China-Korea Joint Seminar: Zebrafish and Microalgae

Session 5. Standardization

Session 6. IT and Data Management
Chair : Dr. Juncai Ma (IM-CAS, China)

S6-1

Dr. Juncai Ma (IM-CAS, China) reported the progress in Global Catalogue of Microorganisms (GCM), the database for microbial resources to be operated by Chinese Academy of Sciences and WFCC-MIRCEN World Data Centre for Microorganisms.

S6-2

Cancelled

S6-3

Dr. Supawadee Ingsriswang (BIOTEC, Thailand) reported the progress of the ASEAN Microbial database, the database for utilization of microbial resources in South East Asia operated by ASEAN Network on Microbial Utilization of research groups in ASEAN member states including Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Viet Nam.

S6-4

Dr. Tae-Eun Jin (Korean Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Korea) introduced Korean Bioresource Information System.

S6-5

Dr. Hiroshi Masuya (RIKEN BRC, Japan) reported their new plan on data integration in RIKEN BRC.

Session 7. New Methodology & Application (Plant & Animal Resources)
Chair : Dr. Yuji Kohara (National Institute of Genetics, Japan) and Dr. Yuichi Obata (RIKEN BRC, Japan)

S7-1

Dr. Won Keun Oh (Korea Bioactive Natural Material Bank (KBNMB), Korea) reported their collection of more than 10,000 plant extracts and fractions as well as the cases where they are utilized.

S7-2

Dr. Hiroshi Abe (RIKEN BRC, Japan) reported the effectiveness of genome editing techniques on Arabidopsis in Experimental Plant Division of RIKEN BRC

S7-3

Dr. Marie Christine M. Obusan (University of the Philippines, Philippines) reported their national commitment to conservation of marine animals.

S7-4

Dr. Michiya Noguchi (RIKEN BRC, Japan) introduced how they conduct authenticity checking of animal species of cell lines and quality control

S7-5

Dr. Yuji Kohara (National Institute of Genetics, Japan) outlined history of high-throughput sequencing technologies and the devices as well as advantages and disadvantages of each technique.

S7-6

Dr. Hye Suck An (National Marine BioResources and Information Center, Korea) introduced their activities and facility in Korea.

S7-7

Dr. Takehide Murata (RIKEN BRC, Japan) reported collection of genetic resources for visualization such as fluorescent and luminescent proteins in Gene Engineering Division of RIKEN BRC.

S7-8

Dr. Juan Carlos T. Gonzalez (University of the Philippines, Philippines) introduced their unique research focusing on phylogeny of extinct hornbills, and identification of hornbill-parasitic lice using bird skins kept in the UPLB museum, Philippines.

Session 8. Laboratory Animal Resources
Cair : Dr. Yong Tian Professor (Institute of Biophysics, CAS, China) and Dr. Yuichi Obata (RIKEN BRC, Japan)

S8-1

Dr. Qiang Sun (CAS Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS, China) reported about their facility of macaque monkeys as the disease model animals, analysis of autism phenotype caused by an overexpression of neural specific MeCP2 in transgenic monkeys and establishment of monkeys by the genome editing technology having modified genes related to the motor disorder and/or biological rhythm such as Prrt2 and Bmal1.

S8-2

Dr. Jae-Won Huh (Primate Resource Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience & Biotechnology, Korea) introduced their facility and activities.

S8-3

Dr. Lai Liangxue (Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, CAS, China) reported development of miniature pig models for neurodegenerative diseases by genome editing.

S8-4

Dr. Xiang Gao (Nanjing Biomedical Research Institute, Nanjing University, China) introduced genome-edited mice resources for disease model and international collaboration.

S8-5

Dr. Yong Tian Professor (Institute of Biophysics, CAS, China) reported the functional analysis of non-coding RNA in mice.

S8-6

Dr. Atsushi Yoshiki (RIKEN BRC, Japan) reported RIKEN BRC's collection of mouse resources and collaboration in the International Mouse Phenotype Consortium (IMPC) and domestic disease research community.

S8-7

Dr. Je Kyung Seong (Seoul National University, Korea) reported Korean infrastructure for GM mouse and phenotype analysis platform.

General Assembly / Closing
Announcements:

• Dr. Shuang-Jiang Liu (IM-CAS, China) will remain president of ANRRC president until September 2019.
• The 11th Meeting (ANRRC2019) will take place in the Republic of Philippines, and the 12th Meeting (ANRRC2020) in Thailand.
• The following three researchers won the Best Poster Award of this year.
  1. Natalie Gabrael (The Tumour Bank, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, NSW, (Australia))
  2. Ha Thanh Tung Pham (Korea Bioactive Natural Material Bank, Seoul National University (Korea))
  3. Chang Liu (Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Science (China))

Participants from RIKEN BRC: Dr. Yuichi Obata, Dr. Atsushi Yoshiki, Dr. Masako Takashima, Dr. Hiroshi Masuya, Dr. Takehide Murata, Dr. Hiroshi Abe, Dr. Michiya Noguchi, Dr. Rikiya Endoh, and the author of this report, Fumio Omae.

Group photo