Marine Biotechnology in Mexico

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National strategy for biotechnology

There is no specific biotechnology strategy. Mexico has a national programme, PECYT, the Special Programme for Science and Technology 2001-2006 and PECiTI, the Special Programme for Science, Technology and Innovation 2008-2012 [1]), and a National Development Plan 2007-2012. PECiTI puts biotechnology at the top of a list of technology priorities for use in national development but the only theme in which biotechnology is a focus is that of biosecurity and biotechnology.

National strategy for marine biotechnology

There is no national strategy for marine biotechnology.

Programmes

Mexico’s CONACYT (National Council of Science and Technology) is responsible for a number of publicly-funded research centres throughout the country and for the scope of National Programmes and Development Plans.

Centres of marine biotechnology research

CICESE (the Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada [2]) is a state-funded institute. CICESE’s Department of Marine Biotechnology researches ecology, biochemistry and molecular genetics of marine biodiversity, with applications in marine natural products, biotechnology in aquaculture, bioremediation, bioprocess engineering, biomass biorefinery and functional nutrition [3].

The National Autonomous University of Mexico has several marine biotechnology activities, including the Dept of Ecology and Aquatic Biodiversity [4]), the Mazatlán Research Dept on the Pacific Coast [5]) the Reef Systems Unit at Puerto Morelos [6]) and the Unit of Oceanic and Coastal Processes, which together form ICMYL, the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (Institute of Marine Science and Limnology [7]).

The Biological Oceanography group at the Oceanology Institute, Autonomous University of Baja California, is active in molecular aquaculture for shellfish and crustacea and advanced cultivation methods for seaweeds [8].

Universidad del Mar (UMAR) maintains a culture collection in the Institute of Resources [9]. Its Institutes and groups in Genetics, Biotechnology, Marine Biology, Environmental Biotechnology and others based at Puerto Ángel have relevant marine biotechnology activities.

The Unidad Mérida of CINVESTAV (Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados [10]) has an Aquaculture, Fisheries and Biotechnology programme within the Ocean Resources department. A current project is assessment of bioactive molecules in seaweed of the Yucatán coast, funded by CONACYT and SEP, the Education Secretariat.

References

Disclaimer

This draft country profile is based on available online information sources and contributions from various country experts and stakeholders. It does not aim nor claim to be complete or final, but should be considered as a dynamic and living information resource that will be elaborated, updated and improved as more information becomes available, including further inputs from experts and stakeholders.

The information on this page is based on information initially compiled by Meredith Lloyd-Evans (BioBridge) as part of the CSA MarineBiotech Project activities (2011-2013).