To be a solution partner for providing services of quality in microbial and genetic resources for academia and industry
Location
Decentralized structure, Coordination Cell in Brussels, Belgium
Services
Biological Resource Centre * bacteria * yeasts and fungi * plasmids * diatoms
The Belgian Co-ordinated Collections of Micro-organisms (BCCM) is a Belgian government funded consortium of seven scientific institutions, who manage and exploit a collection of microbial and genetic resources. The consortium comprises more than 269,000 publicly available strains of bacteria including mycobacteria and cyanobacteria, filamentous fungi, yeasts, diatoms and plasmids.
BCCM is embedded in international initiatives such as the World Federation of Culture Collections (WFCC) and operates in compliance with the rules of the Nagoya Protocol.
History
In 1983 the Belgian Council of Ministers decided to bring the microbial resources and the expertise available in different Belgian institutes together in a network of culture collections: with this the consortium of Belgian Co-ordinated Collections of Microorganisms (BCCM) saw the light of day.
In 1983, the BCCM consortium consisted of the microbial collections of one public scientific institution and two universities:
the collection of medical yeasts and fungi of the Mycology Laboratory of Sciensano (former Scientific Institute of Public Health) (BCCM/IHEM)
The BCCM collections contain more than 269.000 different resources.
Micro-organisms are an important raw material in biotechnology. The properties of bacteria, fungi, yeasts and diatoms are used in countless industrial applications and processes. Consider, for example, fermentation processes and the use of probiotics in foods, the production of antibiotics in medicine, the use of microorganisms as growth promoting elements in agriculture, as bioremediators on polluted sites, etc.
Moreover, the properties of numerous microbial species are still unknown. Therefore public culture collections truly are a treasure trove of biological material, which can be explored through screening projects, for example.
Services
BCCM operates under a multi-site ISO 9001 quality management system
Public collection
The BCCM collections gather biological resources from all over the world, from samples constructed or isolated by the collections themselves or from samples provided by other scientists. These well-documented and authenticated strains of bacteria, filamentous and yeasts fungi (including the most important test and control strains), diatoms, plasmids and DNA libraries are made publicly available and are distributed worldwide. Strains for educational purposes are also available.
Safe deposits
Resources in the safe deposit collection are not catalogued, and are only available to the depositor, or to third parties with the written authorisation of the depositor.
Patent deposits
Under a Belgian Government initiative the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has recognised the BCCM consortium as an International Depositary under the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of Deposit of Microorganisms for Patent Procedure. The BCCM contributes to the innovation process by accepting and storing deposits of the biological materials referred to in patent applications. Therefore, the BCCM collections can accept as patent deposits under the Budapest Treaty:
all bacterial strains, except pathogens belonging to a hazard group higher than group 2 (BCCM/LMG)
filamentous fungi and yeasts, non-pathogenic to humans and animals, representing a wide species diversity from natural and industrial sources as well as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi preserved by in-vitro cultivation (BCCM/MUCL)
filamentous fungi and yeasts, including pathogens that cause mycosis in man and animals (BCCM/IHEM)
human and animal cell lines, including hybridomas (BCCM/GeneCorner)
genetic material in a host or in the form of isolated material (e.g. plasmids, oncogenes, RNA) (BCCM/GeneCorner)
Other services
Next to its collections of biological materials, BCCM also offers expertise in:
Bacterial conjugation is the transfer of genetic material between bacterial cells by direct cell-to-cell contact or by a bridge-like connection between two cells. This takes place through a pilus. It is a parasexual mode of reproduction in bacteria.
A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic size, which may exist in its single-celled form or as a colony of cells.
An agar plate is a Petri dish that contains a growth medium solidified with agar, used to culture microorganisms. Sometimes selective compounds are added to influence growth, such as antibiotics.
A microbiological culture, or microbial culture, is a method of multiplying microbial organisms by letting them reproduce in predetermined culture medium under controlled laboratory conditions. Microbial cultures are foundational and basic diagnostic methods used as a research tool in molecular biology.
In molecular biology and genetics, transformation is the genetic alteration of a cell resulting from the direct uptake and incorporation of exogenous genetic material from its surroundings through the cell membrane(s). For transformation to take place, the recipient bacterium must be in a state of competence, which might occur in nature as a time-limited response to environmental conditions such as starvation and cell density, and may also be induced in a laboratory.
A growth medium or culture medium is a solid, liquid, or semi-solid designed to support the growth of a population of microorganisms or cells via the process of cell proliferation or small plants like the moss Physcomitrella patens. Different types of media are used for growing different types of cells.
The Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure, or Budapest Treaty, is an international treaty signed in Budapest, Hungary, on April 28, 1977. It entered into force on August 19, 1980, and was later amended on September 26, 1980. The treaty is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
ATCC or the American Type Culture Collection is a nonprofit organization which collects, stores, and distributes standard reference microorganisms, cell lines and other materials for research and development. Established in 1925 to serve as a national center for depositing and distributing microbiological specimens, ATCC has since grown to distribute in over 150 countries. It is now the largest general culture collection in the world.
Microbial genetics is a subject area within microbiology and genetic engineering. Microbial genetics studies microorganisms for different purposes. The microorganisms that are observed are bacteria, and archaea. Some fungi and protozoa are also subjects used to study in this field. The studies of microorganisms involve studies of genotype and expression system. Genotypes are the inherited compositions of an organism. Genetic Engineering is a field of work and study within microbial genetics. The usage of recombinant DNA technology is a process of this work. The process involves creating recombinant DNA molecules through manipulating a DNA sequence. That DNA created is then in contact with a host organism. Cloning is also an example of genetic engineering.
Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty, PhD was an Indian American microbiologist, scientist, and researcher, most notable for his work in directed evolution and his role in developing a genetically engineered organism using plasmid transfer while working at GE, the patent for which led to landmark Supreme Court case, Diamond v. Chakrabarty.
The National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, also known as NIMBB, is a research institute of the University of the Philippines. It has four branches which are located in UP Diliman (NIMBB-Diliman), UP Los Baños (BIOTECH-UPLB), UP Manila and UP Visayas.
The Leibniz Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH, located in Braunschweig, is a research infrastructure in the Leibniz Association. Also the DSMZ is the world's most diverse collection of bioresources. These include microorganisms as well as more than 840 human and animal cell cultures, over 1. 500 plant viruses, over 940 bacteriophages, and 250 plasmids. Since 2010, the scientific director of the Leibniz Institute DSMZ has been Jörg Overmann, a microbiologist with a PhD. He holds a professorship in microbiology at the Technical University of Braunschweig. Since August 2018, he has led the institute in a dual leadership with Bettina Fischer as administrative director.
Japan Collection of Microorganisms (JCM) is a culture collection of microorganisms in Japan. It is a semi-governmental collection maintained by RIKEN BioResource Center and it is located in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture. JCM was initiated in 1980 with the purpose of serving as a repository of microorganisms. As of April 2012 JCM has about 20,700 microbial strains, including approximately 8,300 strains of bacteria, 370 strains of archaea and 4,800 strains of fungi including yeasts. JCM accepts deposition of strains based on their appearance in scientific journals or accepted manuscripts.
Marine microorganisms are defined by their habitat as microorganisms living in a marine environment, that is, in the saltwater of a sea or ocean or the brackish water of a coastal estuary. A microorganism is any microscopic living organism or virus, that is too small to see with the unaided human eye without magnification. Microorganisms are very diverse. They can be single-celled or multicellular and include bacteria, archaea, viruses and most protozoa, as well as some fungi, algae, and animals, such as rotifers and copepods. Many macroscopic animals and plants have microscopic juvenile stages. Some microbiologists also classify biologically active entities such as viruses and viroids as microorganisms, but others consider these as non-living.
Streptomyces lavendulae is a species of bacteria from the genus Streptomyces. It is isolated from soils globally and is known for its production of medically useful biologically active metabolites. To see a photo of this organism click here.
Annick Wilmotte is a Belgian Antarctic researcher, best known for her research on the diversity and ecology of Antarctic cyanobacterial microflora. A genus of Antarctic cyanobacteria, called Wilmottia was named after her in recognition of her work in this field.
Industrial microbiology is a branch of biotechnology that applies microbial sciences to create industrial products in mass quantities, often using microbial cell factories. There are multiple ways to manipulate a microorganism in order to increase maximum product yields. Introduction of mutations into an organism may be accomplished by introducing them to mutagens. Another way to increase production is by gene amplification, this is done by the use of plasmids, and vectors. The plasmids and/ or vectors are used to incorporate multiple copies of a specific gene that would allow more enzymes to be produced that eventually cause more product yield. The manipulation of organisms in order to yield a specific product has many applications to the real world like the production of some antibiotics, vitamins, enzymes, amino acids, solvents, alcohol and daily products. Microorganisms play a big role in the industry, with multiple ways to be used. Medicinally, microbes can be used for creating antibiotics in order to treat infection. Microbes can also be used for the food industry as well. Microbes are very useful in creating some of the mass produced products that are consumed by people. The chemical industry also uses microorganisms in order to synthesize amino acids and organic solvents. Microbes can also be used in an agricultural application for use as a biopesticide instead of using dangerous chemicals and or inoculants to help plant proliferation.
The branches of microbiology can be classified into pure and applied sciences. Microbiology can be also classified based on taxonomy, in the cases of bacteriology, mycology, protozoology, and phycology. There is considerable overlap between the specific branches of microbiology with each other and with other disciplines, and certain aspects of these branches can extend beyond the traditional scope of microbiology In general the field of microbiology can be divided in the more fundamental branch and the applied microbiology (biotechnology). In the more fundamental field the organisms are studied as the subject itself on a deeper (theoretical) level. Applied microbiology refers to the fields where the micro-organisms are applied in certain processes such as brewing or fermentation. The organisms itself are often not studied as such, but applied to sustain certain processes.
Food and biological process engineering is a discipline concerned with applying principles of engineering to the fields of food production and distribution and biology. It is a broad field, with workers fulfilling a variety of roles ranging from design of food processing equipment to genetic modification of organisms. In some respects it is a combined field, drawing from the disciplines of food science and biological engineering to improve the earth's food supply.
The National Collection of Industrial, Food and Marine Bacteria (NCIMB) is a culture collection in the United Kingdom consisting of microorganisms from environmental samples as well as bacteria involved in the production or spoilage of food and drink, and bacteria with important industrial properties. It is a large reference collection and has over 10,000 deposits. Deposits to the collection can be made for research purposes, or for inclusion into patent submissions.
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