TEHRAN, Apr. 02 (MNA) � Nearly 30,000 biological samples from plants, microorganisms, humans, animal, and molecules have so far been stored in the country�s biobank, said the head of Iranian Biological Resource Center on Saturday.


On the occasion of the National Day of Biological and Genetic Resources which falls on April 3, Seyed Abolhassan Shahzadeh Fazli, Head of Iranian Biological Resource Center, told Mehr News correspondent that nearly 30,000 biological samples are stored in the country�s biobank in the form of 27 collections; �these samples will be made available to researchers and those active in the biotech industry under specific and documented regulations,� he said.

Noting the ever increasing numbers of the collections, he said �7,200 plant samples that had been taken outside of the country by tourists or other individuals in the past, have been returned through the contacts the Iranian Biological Resource Center have made with other biobanks in the world.�

According to Shahzadeh Fazli, the center is in contact with a number of countries across the world including Spain, the Netherlands, Egypt, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Tunisia, Algeria, etc.

�Researchers, university students, companies and centers active in the field of biotech industry can utilize the services and products of the Biological Resource Center,� he said.

He went on to add that biological resources as the greatest and most important resources, contribute to health security, food security and economic security; �it is highly necessary to develop the country�s biobank due to high biodiversity and climate variability, as well as immense and valuable plant, microbial and animal species that serve as the main resources for biotech industry development.�

By Mehr News Agency