Biotherm is racing with purpose
The skincare brand is launching a marine biodiversity research project in offshore sailing
Biotherm IMOCA Research Project
The skincare brand is joining forces with the Tara Ocean Foundation to study ocean biodiversity as the racing team takes on The Ocean Race in 2023 through an experimental research project integrated into the Biotherm IMOCA.
Biotherm announced a joint research project with the Tara Ocean Foundation to study ocean biodiversity as the racing team takes on The Ocean Race in 2023. Each leg of the race will become a data collection opportunity as experimental sensors onboard the Biotherm IMOCA will capture key information about phytoplankton and the health of our ocean.
Phytoplankton support all life in the ocean and play an important role in the ocean’s ability to capture carbon and regulate Earth’s climate, which is why this research is so crucial. The Biotherm IMOCA will collect data on phytoplankton in compliment to Tara Ocean Foundation by traveling in places that the research vessel cannot, notably during the race’s historic Southern Ocean leg during the 2022/2023 edition.
To achieve this challenging mission, scientific partners of the Tara Ocean Foundation and sailors from the Biotherm Racing team are installing a novel state-of-theart automated microscope aboard the Biotherm IMOCA: an Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB). The device combines flow cytometry and video technology to capture high resolution images of microscopic particles such as phytoplankton in aquatic environments. In short, the Imaging FlowCytobot will behave as an automated microscope: it will take small samples of water from understudied parts of the ocean to create geolocalized datasets of microscopic marine life.
Mapping the future of ocean biodiversity research
Beyond researching local biodiversity, the data collected by Biotherm will help Tara Ocean Foundation and their research partners to devise new algorithms to study phytoplankton diversity from developing space-based satellites. In the future, these developing research methods will help us gain significantly more information on the properties of the marine biodiversity in the upper ocean than what is available today.
“Biotherm comes from water and we want to give back to it. Understanding the ocean is the first step in order to help protect it. Our racing program is a part of our commitment to the ocean; beyond racing and raising awareness about the importance of ocean preservation, we want to have a tangible impact in protecting its future. The Ocean Race’s mission of Racing with Purpose inspires us to do the same. We are thankful to longtime partners Romain Troublé and the team at Tara Ocean Foundation for helping us craft this project from day one.”
Gregory Benoit, Biotherm Global Brand President
Water Lovers, since 2012
Biotherm is empowering a global community of Water Lovers to support the UN’s 30x30 Initiative – an ambitious international project to officially protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 to protect earth’s biodiversity in the face of climate change. Ocean preservation has been at the heart of the brand for decades and was formalized by the creation of Biotherm’s Water Lovers sustainability program in 2012. This sailing biodiversity research project is the latest initiative in Biotherm’s Water Lovers journey.