title: Culture collections.
abstract: Culture collections no matter their size, form, or institutional objectives play a role in underpinning microbiology, supplying the resources for study, innovation, and discovery. Their basic roles include providing a mechanism for ex situ conservation of organisms; they are repositories for strains subject to publication, taking in safe, confidential, and patent deposits from researchers. They supply strains for use; therefore, the microorganisms provided must be authentic and preserved well, and any associated information must be valid and sufficient to facilitate the confirmation of their identity and to facilitate their use. The organisms must be collected in compliance with international conventions, international and national legislation and distributed to users indicating clearly the terms and conditions under which they are received and can be used. Collections are harmonizing approaches and characterizing strains to meet user needs. No one single collection can carry out this task alone, and therefore, it is important that output and strategy are coordinated to ensure culture collections deliver the basic resources and services microbiological innovation requires. This chapter describes the types of collection and how they can implement quality management systems and operate to deliver their basic functions. The links to information sources given not only provide support for the practitioners within collections but also provide guidance to users on accessing the huge resource available and how they can help ensure microbiology has the resources and a solid platform for future development.
authors.affiliation: CABI, Bioservices, Bakeham Lane, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom. d.smith@cabi.org
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Smith