EU funds for the project “Infrastructure of Metrology System – Amount of Substance/Food of Plant Origin/GMO”
Ljubljana, 20 June 2012 – Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, as the Managing Authority for the EU structural funds and the Cohesion Fund, directly approved the project “Infrastructure of Metrology System – Amount of Substance/Food of Plant Origin/GMO”. The project will enable the purchase of modern measurement equipment for the needs of the field of the amount of substance – food of plant origin/GMO (genetically modified organisms). The implementation of the project will affect the modernisation of the development research infrastructure of the Republic of Slovenia, the providing of adequate environment for greater competitiveness in the global market and better implementation of tasks (accurate and reliable measurements) in the framework of the national metrology system. The overall value of the project, which is implemented in the framework of the Operational Programme for Strengthening Regional Development Potentials for the period 2007–2013, is 339,480 Euros. European Regional Development Fund contribution is 288,558 Euros.
The EU funds will enable the purchase of the equipment for the analysis of nucleic acids in the determination of genetically modified organisms (droplet PCR, digital PCR and digital PCR in real time), with which the official controls for food, feed and seed will be carried out. Among other things, the investment will also enable new international cooperation in the field of metrology and expand activities in the analysis of nucleic acids in both the Slovenian and international environment. The activities in the metrology field could be expanded to new areas, such as medicine, where reliable and accurate results are the prerequisite for correct diagnoses.
The field of bio-analyses, especially the analysis of nucleic acids, is becoming increasingly important in terms of metrology, as the quality of the measurement result in the field of GMO is extremely important. Equipment for the analysis of nucleic acids, which is the subject of this investment, is most advanced in this area. It will enable the implementation of the tasks of the National Institute of Biology, which is one of the leading European laboratories in the field of GMO detection.
This investment will improve the measurement capability and develop new methods of determining nucleic acids. The new equipment will also contribute to better quality research, but it also represents the possibility of developing a number of applications, which will also lead to cooperation and integration of Slovenian and international projects, in the field of determining GMO and other field (biotechnology, medicine, pharmaceuticals, etc.). In the field of determining GMO the equipment will also contribute to the improvement of processes both in terms of the organization of work in the laboratory (less pipetting, faster analysis, analysis of many samples at once, etc.) as well as the metrological aspect (the analysis of several genetic elements at the same time, the accuracy of the analysis, the possibility of setting an extremely low concentrations of nucleic acids, determining the presence of quantities of target sequences without the use of reference materials, etc..), which will bring greater quality of measurements.
The project contributes to the realisation of the objectives of the Operational Programme for Strengthening Regional Development Potentials for the period 2007–2013, priority axis “Economic development infrastructure”, main type of activity “Educational-research infrastructure”. Ministry of Economic Development and Technology – Metrology Institute – is responsible for the implementation of the project.
