BopCo Services

The Barcoding Facility for Organisms and Tissues of Policy Concern aims at developing an expertise forum to facilitate the identification of organisms of policy concern and their derived products. BopCo acts as a focal point for identifying biological materials upon request, by providing access to the necessary expertise and infrastructure. BopCo connects individuals in need of an accurate identification with taxonomic experts who possess the required know-how and means to identify the sample(s) and to provide background information on the concerned organisms. BopCo uses morphological species traits, DNA-barcoding and, if needed or relevant, other DNA-based technologies, to produce reliable identifications. To perform DNA-based species identifications, BopCo has access to fully equipped DNA laboratories at both the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) and the Royal Museum of Central Africa (RMCA).

BopCo’s identification service is available to all stakeholders who deal with biological materials of policy concern and who need accurate identifications. For species identification requests, please contact us directly or fill in the Request Sample Identification Form.

Species identification requests will only be executed insofar they comply with the scope of BopCo and costs may be charged. Please contact us directly or fill in the Request Sample Identification Form to receive more information. All services provided by BopCo are subject to the General Terms & Conditions.

Click here to see an overview of processed requests.

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith