The Horizon Europe project MobiHdic (New model organism for biotechnology: Haslea diatoms and the omic approaches) aims at developing a new model organism, the marine benthic diatom Haslea ostrearia, using interdisciplinary and multi-omic approaches, for fundamental research and industrial applications. The project MobiHdic will capitalize on the outcomes of the H2020 GHaNA project (The Genus Haslea, New marine resources for blue biotechnology and Aquaculture, grant agreement No 734708/GHaNA/H2020-MSCA-RISE-2016) (March 2017 – February 2021), which explored the biodiversity and characterized a new marine bioresource, the diatom genus Haslea, for applications mainly in bivalve aquaculture. The main outcomes of the GHaNA project are so far: - increased knowledge in the biodiversity and biogeography of the genus Haslea (new species identified) - draft genomes of different strains and species of blue and non-blue Haslea - better knowledge about the photobiology of blue Haslea - progress in the culture and production of blue Haslea in photobioreactors (PBR) at the lab scale - description of isoprenoid biosynthesis pathway in Haslea - new insights in marennine chemical nature (polysaccharides associated to a specific chromophore) - assessment of the antibacterial activities of marennine and application to bivalve models MobiHdic general objectives Capitalizing on these main achievements, the project MobiHdic will allow exploring new research avenues for which a long-lasting effort is needed and new expertise required, some of them being fundamental and others more applied-oriented. This is the rationale that underpins the MobiHdic project, the overall objective of which being to develop a new model of phytoplankton experimental organism, the diatom Haslea ostrearia, using interdisciplinary and multi-omic approaches for fundamental aspects and biotechnology and health applications. Expected outputs of the MobiHdic project will concern: - reference genome, genetics, epigenetics, stability / evolution of genomes - transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics in Haslea diatoms - environmental genomics and Haslea ecology - varietal selection, maintenance, improvement and characterization of strains - upscale of benthic algal production systems and development of downstream processes - biotechnology, transformation, molecular engineering, synthetic biology - identification of original biosynthesis pathways of marennine-like pigments and HBIs - high-value product applications in: o health and cosmetic industry (antiproliferative / antimicrobial compound, natural blue pigment) o food and feed (prebiotic- or probiotic-like compounds) o marennine-like pigments as sensitive element in electrochemical biosensors o new biosilica-based functionalized materials (e.g., nanoporous materials in solar panels) To fulfill these objectives, the consortium MobiHdic will gather all the required expertise in (1) biology and physiology of phytoplankton, (2) chemistry and physics applied to natural compounds, (3) molecular biology, multi-omics and bioinformatics, and (4) biotechnology applied to microalgae.