Our researchers of the Aquaculture Research Group organized the “Workshop on reproductive biotechnology and cryobanking in aquatic species”, which was held from 7th to 9th of April, under the framework of European Blue Biobank (EBB). In the first two days, the workshop had several online sessions and on the last day had a practical session that was held at CCMAR and the Faculty for Sciences and Technology (FCT). 

The theoretical component had several practical video sessions about reproductive and cryopreservation techniques for production and conservation of marine biological resources, given by 16 speakers several various institutions and countries. The industry was also present in this workshop, where it gave a very important point of view about the applicability of cryopreservation techniques at a commercial scale.

The day of the practical training, was attended only by 20 people due to current pandemic restrictions, included a visit to our zebrafish facilities. In addition, participants were able to learn sperm collection techniques in different species, cryopreservation and quality evaluation of these samples using several methods previously shown in the practical video sessions. Besides, testicular dissection and spermatogonia collection were performed including cryopreservation of these cells for conducting transplantations in the future.

The parts that most attracted the participants were the practical video sessions and the participation of the industry in the Workshop. During these three days, the workshop registered a total of 220 participants from 19 countries.