CABI scientists have considerable expertise and experience in the optimal preservation of microorganisms. Our specialised facilities include both freeze-drying and cryopreservation, and these are supported by programmable freezers and cryomicroscopy that enable us to design bespoke procedures to maximise viability and maintain microbial properties.
Microorganisms cited in publications, including new species and interesting strains, should be stored in a public service collection to facilitate long-term access for research and confirmation of published results. Such deposits are accepted into the CABI collections. Capacity is limited, and strains must, therefore, meet specific criteria relating to the scope and capacity of CABI’s interests.
In response to ever-changing legal and regulatory requirements, CABI has expanded its safe deposit service, offering customers a higher degree of service and reassurance for the long term storage of valuable isolates. You can deposit microorganisms with us confidentially and we will preserve them as freeze dried samples and in liquid nitrogen to ensure stability of the material. We can also preserve and store organisms cited in patents and pre-patent application strains for their safe keeping.
Safe deposit platinum: Molecular strain definition of stored strains including comparison against relevant type strains.
Safe deposit gold: CABI’s confidential safe deposit service – lyophilization (freeze-drying) and cryo-preservation of strains with additional, bi-annual viability checks.
Safe deposit silver: CABI’s standard confidential safe deposit service. Lyophilization (freeze-drying) and cryo-preservation of strains.
Microorganisms often change over time due to strain drift or mutation. This can result in its commercially important activity becoming compromised or completely lost. Our stability checking procedure is a monitoring service which ensures the stability of production cultures by checking them against cultures in long-term storage. In extreme cases we can recover activities previously considered lost.
We will also advise on the best ways to store and maintain specific microorganisms, as well as providing a regular supply service to ensure that only the best cultures are used in production.
Please call us on +44 (0)1491 829016 or email: microbiologicalservices@cabi.org for further information.