Abstract Body

Parasitic biological resources (living parasites, cells, genes, and data information) are essential materials for the development of biotechnology, human and animal health, and R&D in life sciences. Advances in molecular biology provide tremendous opportunities to acquire and transform these biological resources and to use them for the benefit of human beings. This is the time for us to invest and recover these biological resources, to explore them, and to make them accessible to scientific, economic and medical benefits. Parasite Resource Bank (PRB) was established as a part of the National Biological Resources Bank in April 2005 and is operated by Prof. Keeseon S. Eom’s team at the School of Medicine, Chungbuk National University. Currently, PRB has a research network with 27 overseas institutions on five continents, with a stockpile of more than 200,000 resources. In 2020, PRB expanded to the International Parasite Resource Bank (iPRB) with offices around the world to reach the researchers on the globe. So far, the iPRB is the world's unique parasite biobank which distributes parasite resources of frozen, living, fixed and also data information as well. In 2021, Korea formed 14 clusters for research resources, iPRB established Caenorabditis elegans and Nematodes Bank (CeNbank). In the near future, a policy should be developed in response to the Nagoya Protocol and to activate the operational parameters in which iPRB functions, including policies to control parasitic resources and access to those research materials, and a systematic biobank integrated management system. For operation of parasitic big data, strengthening the global cooperation on parasitic resource network and fostering domestic and foreign experts are necessary.