BLUES meets in Ålesund for its General Assembly
The consortium travelled to Norway’s west coast to take stock of the research and plan the final stretch of the project.
Fjords, fresh Atlantic air, colourful Art Nouveau facades and plenty of good company: our latest General Assembly took us all the way up to Ålesund, Norway, where our partners at Møreforsking welcomed us for two packed days of work, discovery and, of course, a fair amount of excellent seafood!
We gathered at the Norwegian Maritime Competence Center (NMK), right by the water, and dedicated the first day to updates from each of our work packages. We went through the progress of our research, the results we have achieved so far, the challenges still ahead and the solutions we are working on. With BLUES now entering its last phase, we spent a good part of the discussion on how to bring all the pieces together and which activities to prioritise in the coming months. After a long day of presentations, we headed to the town centre for a dinner where the fish was as fresh as it gets.
The second day started with a visit to the Atlantic Sea Park aquarium, where we had the chance to see in person some of the very marine species at the heart of our research. We then had a look at Møreforsking’s wet lab, getting a close view of the facilities and equipment our Norwegian partners use every day. Back at NMK, we split into two focus groups: one on cell line development, covering culture strategies, media and growth factors, downstream processing and scaffold optimisation, and one on process intensification, looking at bioreactor selection, upstream and downstream processing and scaffold requirements. Between sessions, we also enjoyed a guided tour of NMK’s smart simulators. We closed the day by pulling together the main takeaways and setting our focus points for the next reporting period.
To wrap things up, we walked from NMK to the Sunnmøre Museum, where traditional Norwegian wooden houses sit nestled in nature along the water. It was the perfect setting for our consortium dinner, and a lovely reminder of why we enjoy working together so much. A big thank you to Møreforsking for being such wonderful hosts.
On to the final stretch!