A Message from Hannah McGregor, Head of Culture Collections
Quality at the heart of what we do
The year began with a successful surveillance visit from the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). This confirmed our ISO17025 accreditation for quality control testing procedures in the NCTC and ECACC teams. What makes this milestone even more impressive is that many members of our Quality Assurance team were new to their roles. Their commitment and adaptability have driven improvements in internal processes, ensuring we continue to deliver the highest quality service.
New facilities for ECACC
In January, ECACC moved out of its long-standing laboratories at the UKHSA Porton Down site. The facility dates back to 1984 that had outlived its purpose. The banking and QC teams moved into alternative laboratory space on the site. Transitioning to new laboratory space required not just a physical relocation but also meticulous planning and teamwork to update documentation and processes without compromising safety or quality.
Expanding and maintaining our microbial collections
National Collection of Type Cultures (NCTC) team at our Colindale site celebrated an achievement. New stock of restricted bacterial products including ACDP Hazard Group 3 strains were made available for the first time since 2018. The represents a tremendous effort in ensuring the containment level three facility was fully compliant to legislation and regulations, and staff were trained and competent in the procedures.
The NCPV team has also expanded and have been kept busy in the laboratory rebanking and adding new viruses to the collection. New batches of Dengue 1 (NCPV 0106034v), transmitted by mosquitoes, causing high fevers, headaches, body aches and nausea, and Rift Valley Fever (NCPV 0310122v), a viral zoonosis capable of infecting humans, causing symptoms ranging from mild flu to severe haemorrhagic fever, were added to stock. In addition, new seasonal H1N1 strains of Influenza A were accessioned into the collection.
A fond farewell
In April, we bid farewell to Dr Sarah Alexander, who served as Head of Culture Collections and Curator of NCTC since 2015. Sarah successfully led on the NCTC 3000 project, delivering annotated genome sequences of over 3000 bacterial strains. She also was responsible for expanding the NCTC collection by accessioning Type strains of medical and veterinary importance, and recently circulating antimicrobial resistant bacterial reference strains. Over the past two years, Sarah headed the four collections, bringing a more collaborative working practice across the units and a strong scientific vision. We are grateful for Sarah’s contribution to Culture Collections and wish her well in her new role within UKHSA.
The launch of NMBB
May marked the launch of the National Microbial Biobank (NMBB), our newest addition. Originally established in 2021 as a repository for residual COVID-19 samples, the biobank has expanded to house diverse microbiological specimens with anonymized patient health data. Over 2024, we completed recruitment, training, and facility setup, laying the groundwork for the biobank’s official debut in 2025.
Celebrating ECACC’s legacy
ECACC was established in July 1984, with this year marking 40 years of providing authenticated cell cultures to the scientific community. I was privileged to host an anniversary event where we were joined by ECACC staff past and present. Dr Jim Cooper’s account of ECACC’s evolution over four decades was both inspiring and a powerful reminder of the innovation and dedication that have shaped the organisation.
On a personal note, In September 2024, I was privileged to be offered the role of Head of the Collections, a role I could only have dreamt about when I started as a Microbiologist with NCTC in 2013. I am grateful for the opportunity to lead this incredible team. I look forward to building on our legacy, learning from the wealth of expertise across the collections, and shaping our future to ensure we remain robust, relevant, and committed to the highest standards of service.
As we look back on a year of milestones, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to all our customers, depositors, and collaborators in 2024. On behalf of entire team at UKHSA Culture Collections, I wish you a happy and peaceful, and prosperous New Year.