LIFECYCLE - a research project to boost European fish farming

The LIFECYCLE project is a part of the EU vision that by strengthening basic and need-driven research, a strong Knowledge Based Bio-Economy (KBBE) will be created. To this end, LIFECYCLE will deliver a knowledge-base to improve competitiveness and sustainability of European aquaculture, through a combination of question- and problem-driven approaches. The focus is on development and growth, adaptation and homeostasis, immunity, and sex differentiation and puberty. Strong focus is placed on key life-stage transitions such as metamorphosis, smoltification and puberty, which often represent current production bottlenecks.

To advance current knowledge on mechanisms governing essential biological functions in fish, state-of-the-art physiological research is combined with functional genomics by leading European research groups. LIFECYCLE will focus on all major life stages of sea bass, sea bream, Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout, and some aspects of Atlantic cod and halibut biology. For these important aquaculture species, substantial resources and biological information exists which will be exploited and integrated to potentiate the overall impact.