IMBBC HCMR

04/09/2026

📣 The 3rd Call for Blue Challenges is now open!

Schools across Europe can apply for up to €3,000 to develop projects on ocean & water literacy 🌍

📅 Deadline: 18 Sept 2026
🔗 Grants for Schools: https://blue-lights.eu/grants-for-schools/

04/09/2026

Webinar για εκπαιδευτικούς: Μπλε διαδρομές στην εκπαίδευση: Μπλε Σχολεία και Υδάτινες Εκπαιδευτικές Περιοχές

Επιστρέφουμε δυναμικά και φέτος με τα webinars για εκπαιδευτικούς! 💙

Μετά από μια γεμάτη περσινή χρονιά, με πολλές δράσεις και webinars για εκπαιδευτικούς και σχολικές ομάδες, συνεχίζουμε με νέες ευκαιρίες για μάθηση, συνεργασία και σύνδεση με τη θάλασσα.

Στο πρώτο μας webinar για τη νέα ακαδημαϊκή χρονιά, θα γνωρίσουμε καλύτερα τα Μπλε Σχολεία (Blue Schools) στην Ευρώπη και θα ανακαλύψουμε πώς ένα σχολείο μπορεί να γίνει μέρος αυτού του ευρωπαϊκού δικτύου. 🌊🏫

Παράλληλα, θα γνωρίσουμε τις Υδάτινες Εκπαιδευτικές Περιοχές, τη φιλοσοφία και το πρωτόκολλό τους, και θα δούμε πώς μπορούν να αξιοποιηθούν στην εκπαιδευτική πράξη.

📌 Τι θα συζητήσουμε;
🔹 Τα Μπλε Σχολεία και το ευρωπαϊκό τους δίκτυο
🔹 Πώς μπορεί ένα σχολείο να συμμετέχει
🔹 Τι είναι οι Υδάτινες Εκπαιδευτικές Περιοχές
🔹 Το πρωτόκολλο και τα βασικά βήματα εφαρμογής
🔹 Ιδέες για δράσεις με τους μαθητές

📅 Τρίτη 15 Σεπτεμβρίου 2026
🕔 17:00

👉 Δηλώστε συμμετοχή εδώ:
https://forms.gle/qmAunXkmir8xT7iQ6

Αν γνωρίζετε εκπαιδευτικούς που θα ήθελαν να φέρουν τη θάλασσα πιο κοντά στην τάξη, μοιραστείτε μαζί τους την πρόσκληση! 💙

🌊 Ας κάνουμε και φέτος την εκπαίδευση… πιο μπλε!

#Εκπαίδευση #Εκπαιδευτικοί #ΜπλεΣχολεία

02/09/2026

Davide Bottacini, Marije Ridder, Emil Bathow, Grigorios Skouradakis, Thanos Dailianis, Maria Mastoraki, Stavros Chatzifotis, Alexander Kotrschal, Lionfish (Pterois miles) blow directed jets of water to manipulate prey behavior, Behavioral Ecology, Volume 37, Issue 5, September/October 2026, arag087,

Lionfish are predators that show a very interesting behavior while they approach their prey: they blow water at them. This seems counterintuitive, since th

30/07/2026

Henry, M.A.; Fountoulaki, E.; Mastoraki, M.; Chronopoulos, P.; Kogiannou, D.; Vasilaki, A.; Nikoloudaki, C.; Theillier, E.; Chatteleyn, M.; Karapanagiotidis, I.T. Effects of Fish Oil and Microalgae Finishing Diets on Fillet Fatty Acid Recovery, Liver and Intestine Histology, and Innate Immune Parameters of European Sea Bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) Fed with Rapeseed Oil. Fishes 2026, 11, 444.

This study evaluated the use of finishing diets to reduce fish oil (FO) inclusion in European sea bass feeds while preserving fillet quality and n-3 fatty acid content. Fish (197 g) were fed for 25 weeks with a control FO diet, based on 9% FO and 6% plant oil, or diets where 6% FO was replaced by ra...

24/07/2026

Maidanou M, Chatzigeorgiou G, Koulouri P (2026) Soft-bottom macrobenthic communities of the
coastal marine ecosystem of Chrysi Island (southeast coast of Crete, Greece). Biodiversity Data Journal 14:
e202544.

Chrysi Island, an area also including the island of Mikronisi, is located in the southeast of Crete (Greece, eastern Mediterranean). It is a protected ecosystem within the Natura 2000 network (GR4320003), renowned for its diverse marine environment. However, this coastal marine ecosystem, primarily....

23/07/2026

Loukas, A., Kalaentzis, K., Paragkamian, S., Venetsianou, N.K, Pafilis, E. et al. CCMRI: a classification and curated database of climate change-related microbiome studies. Sci Rep 16, 20829 (2026).

Climate Change (CC) is reshaping all ecosystem processes and structures. Microbial data provide valuable insights into how microbial processes contribute to CC and how CC, in turn, alters microbial communities. However, the growing volume of environmental genomics data makes identifying CC-related r...

17/07/2026

Sebahi, R., Verret, F., Mandalakis, M., & Baba Hamed, M. B. (2026). Enhanced carotenoid production in a novel Chlorella vulgaris isolate under nitrogen limitation: dynamics of pigment diversity across growth phases. Applied Phycology, 7(1).

15/07/2026

Anastasia Gioti - Fulbright Fellow Greece 2026-2027

We are happy to announce that IMBBC Research Fellow Anastasia Gioti was awarded a Fulbright Visiting Scholar Fellowship for the academic year 2026-2027. The Scholarship will support a 3-month research visit to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts.
Anastasia is an experienced fungal biologist combining bioinformatics with genomics approaches. At HCMR, she maintains a local collection of marine fungi, which she studies for their bioremediation potential, and has developed methods for studying fungal communities from various marine environments. At WHOI, she will continue in the second direction, by “mining” fungi from a global dataset of 157 meta-tatranscriptomes coming from low-oxygen ocean samples. The project, aiming to explore fungal roles in nutrient cycling, will advance our understanding of the biogeochemistry of oxygen-minimum zones (OMZ), which are currently expanding in the oceans due to global warming.
The Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program is designed to enable highly-qualified Greek scholars to engage in institutional collaboration with U.S. academic institutions and support their growth through opportunities of networking and teaching. During her stay, Anastasia Gioti will work together with Research Scientist Maria Pachiadaki, a leader in the field of microbial ecology of extreme environments. Moreover, she will participate in the WHOI-MIT Environmental Bioinformatics MSc. program with lectures and practicals. She further plans to use the Outreach Lecture Fund and Enrichment Seminars options offered through the Fulbright network to share her research outputs with additional U.S. Universities.
https://imbbc.hcmr.gr/2026/07/15/anastasia-gioti-fulbright-fellow-greece-2026-2027/

14/07/2026

Debailleul G, Gatouillat H, Chatzimpalasis D, Chatteleyn M, Chronopoulos P, Nikoloudaki C, Vasilaki A, Kogiannou D, Henry M. Antibacterial Activity of Extracts from Seven Insect Species Against Mediterranean Marine Aquaculture Bacterial Pathogens. Fishes. 2026; 11(7):389.

Beyond their role as fishmeal replacements in aquafeeds, insects may enhance fish resistance to microbial diseases and improve feed shelf life through the presence of antibacterial compounds. This study evaluated the antibacterial activity of extracts from silkworm pupae (Bombyx mori, BM), larval me...

13/07/2026

Noon, V. et al. (2026). The BlueSchoolsMed Project Experience: An Overview of the Conception, Implementation, Evaluation, and Dissemination of the “Blue Challenges” within Mediterranean Schools. In: Kennedy, T.J. (eds) Ocean Literacy: The Foundation for the Success of the Ocean Decade, Volume III. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham.

Within the framework of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, alongside the EU efforts to promote Ocean Literacy (OL) across Europe (EU), and in line with the EU4Ocean Ocean Literacy Coalition, the Erasmus+ BlueSchoolsMed mobility project...