Deposit your bacteria
Why deposit with us?
There are three main reasons why scientists and clinicians deposit bacteria strains with the National Collection of Type Cultures (NCTC). Firstly, when they isolate a novel species of bacteria, as part of the process of naming and describing the organism, authors are required to deposit the type strain in at least two culture collections located in different countries to comply with the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP) (also known as Bacteriological Code)1 They must also provide documentary evidence that the strains have been deposited, are viable and available to other researchers without restrictions on their use for taxonomic research.
Secondly, researchers frequently ensure that bacterial strains isolated during outbreak investigations or selected for their phenotypic or genotypic characteristics are securely preserved and made accessible to the broader scientific community, thereby facilitating reproducibility, comparative studies, and future research.
Thirdly, as a non-for-profit organisation we do not charge depositors to deposit their bacterial strains with NCTC.
How to deposit bacteria
The process for depositing strains is very simple as there is always an open dialogue between depositors and the NCTC throughout the process.
We first require depositors to complete the ‘NCTC Deposit Form’. This form will provide us with all relevant biological information regarding the strain(s) to ensure before accessioning all regulatory standards we adhere to are upheld (e.g. Nagoya Protocol). This also involves completing a sufficiently detailed Biohazard Risk Assessment.
The figure below outlines our simple depositing procedure once bacterial strains once accepted into NCTC.
Forms
Biohazard Risk Assessment Form - Bacteria