Organized by the two field stations on Moorea, the workshop aims to draft a synthetic paper on the development of biomolecular research on the island, and to explore future opportunities, including a model for a joint time series: “Moorea Omic Biodiversity Observatory Network” (Mo’OBON) 

Discussions will cover different ‘compartments’ and levels of biological complexity, recognizing the importance of reference libraries, data curation, translational research, and ethical, legal, and social aspects.

Mo’OBON is intended to contribute to the U.N. Ocean Decade’s Ocean Biomolecular Observation Network (OBON) and to the Group on Earth Observatories (GEO) Omic BON, a thematic Biodiversity Observation Network focused on the study of genes, transcripts, proteins, metabolites, and other biomolecules in organisms or environmental materials. Guiding questions for the workshop include:

• What is biomolecular / omic research in the context of this meeting? 

  • Sequence based studies (DNA, RNA, proteins, other biomolecules)

• What is the definition of an omic time series?

• What are the relevant reference libraries? - this includes systematics (phylogenomics) but with a purpose of supporting ecological time series

• What contextual (non-omic) data are important?

• What methods and infrastructures are needed?

• What are the ethical, legal, and social contexts – including societal benefits?