Marbank – A biobank of arctic marine organisms

Marbank is a marine biobank located in Tromso, Norway. Marbank has a national responsibility for collecting, preserving and cataloguing marine organisms from Norwegian waters for research, commercial and exploitation purposes. The mission of Marbank is to provide an easy accessible repository of marine resources from Arctic and sub-Arctic areas for R&D institutions and industry that search for bioactive compounds in marine organisms. In addition to the collection in Tromso, Marbank coordinates a network of marine collections in Norway. The overall aim of the network is to better coordinate marine collections in order to make resources and data more accessible to both Norwegian and international users. Marbank is established in close cooperation with the Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs.