The researcher of the Centre of Biological Engineeering (CEB) and Director of MUM, Nelson Lima, was recently re-elected, by unanimity, President of ECCO, a scientific organisation that promotes collaboration and exchange of ideas and information about all aspects of culture collection activity. The re-election of Nelson Lima for a new term of three years is a recognition of the researcher’s work completed on the first term, both concerning the renovation of the organisation and the consolidation of partnerships with similar entities worldwide.
ECCO was established in 1981 and supports the interests of European collections of microorganisms and their users. The improvement of scientific and technical culture collection standards, as well as the promotion and the development of a collaborative environment and exchange of experiences between the organizations, are some fundamental parts of ECCO’s remit.
Currently, ECCO covers 61 service collections such as yeasts, filamentous fungi, bacteria, cell lines, viruses and algae, among many others. From 22 European countries, these organisations provide access to more than 400,000 strains of microorganisms and their associated information.
Nelson Lima is also founder and director of the Portuguese Collection of Filamentous Fungus Cultures, hosted by MUM, and has an extensive research career. The re-elected President has been recently awarded with the Professor Honoris Causa title by the Federal University of Pernambuco, in Recife, Brazil, for the work developed in this institution.
Based at CEB, MUM’s team counts on over 300 researchers. These data show a high scientific activity, reflected in the number of papers published in renowned international journals, in 16 achieved patents and for having originated13 new spin-offs so far.
