The workshop took place ahead of the Gordon Research Conference on Marine Natural Products, providing an opportunity to gather leading scientists already present in Ventura. The meeting was intentionally designed as a smaller, discussion-oriented workshop to encourage open dialogue and identify potential areas for closer collaboration.

Marine bioprospecting relies on connecting diverse expertise, biological collections, analytical technologies, and data resources across institutions and countries. This workshop helped create opportunities for researchers to exchange ideas and explore collaboration, which is essential for advancing marine natural product discovery, now more than ever.

Throughout the program, participants explored key topics relevant to marine natural product discovery, including microbial collections, genome mining, natural product biosynthesis, and emerging analytical approaches. The sessions combined short scientific presentations with interactive discussions aimed at identifying shared interests and complementary expertise.

A clear message emerged from the discussions: there is strong interest on both sides of the Atlantic to strengthen collaboration in marine natural product research. Participants highlighted how coordinated efforts between European and USA research groups could open new opportunities for joint projects and future funding initiatives.

EU-OPENSCREEN and the EUREMAP partners would like to thank all participants for their engagement and their willingness to dedicate their Sunday to these discussions. The workshop represents an important step toward strengthening transatlantic collaboration in marine bioprospecting.