Naturalis bouwt baanbrekende onderzoeksinfrastructuur

On November 8, Naturalis announced that they will introduce a research infrastructure for monitoring biodiversity using minimal amounts of DNA. This approach will enable the research institute to better assess the viability of nature. The project is funded through a contribution from the Applied Research Facilities Fund of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate. The infrastructure to be built will be named eDentity.

Edwin van Huis, director of Naturalis, is enthusiastic about the grant:

''Naturalis aims to rapidly map the Dutch biodiversity and its current state, thereby contributing to addressing the biodiversity crisis. This funding enables us to play an even greater role in this effort.''

The research infrastructure eDentity will not only map the Dutch biodiversity but also strengthen existing infrastructures such as Arise and Biodiversity Genomics Europe. These initiatives focus on recognizing the entire Dutch nature, while Biodiversity Genomics Europe concentrates on genetic information from across Europe. The knowledge derived from these infrastructures now enables the implementation of eDentity.

According to Vincent Merckx, the project initiator at Naturalis, eDentity will constitute an essential research infrastructure for biology. This can be achieved by processing, storing, and making hundreds of thousands of samples accessible for future research. Merckx emphasizes the importance of monitoring small species like fungi and insects, which respond rapidly to changes and are currently overlooked. The scaling and standardization of eDNA technology will enable Naturalis to monitor biodiversity quickly and effectively, a crucial step in understanding and addressing the global biodiversity crisis.