Depositing microbial strains with NCTC

The National Collection of Type Cultures (NCTC) specialises in preserving and distributing strains of medical and veterinary importance. 

Organisms deposited within our collection are maintained by experienced staff, supported by experts in Public Health England’s specialist and reference laboratories who use a combination of traditional and more novel procedures to ensure the integrity of the strains.

Many scientists and researchers want to ensure the strains used in their research projects are preserved and made available to the wider scientific community.

By depositing with NCTC we can assure you that:

• Your strains will be included in our catalogues, with descriptions and associated data published on our website
• You retain ownership of your strains and intellectual property rights
• We manage international dispatch for you, including biosecurity and licence requirements
• Your strains will have long-term secure storage
• We can independently authenticate the identity of your strains
• Your strains are distributed for research use only (or release conditions can be specific to your needs, including potential licensing).

Through this service, the research community will be able to reproduce and build upon your work more readily, and it will continue to be available to future generations of researchers. Depositing with us will also help to raise the profile of your peer-reviewed publications by requiring other users to cite original work.

There is no charge to deposit with us and you can access your deposited strains FREE of charge at any time.

Further information on depositing with NCTC can be found here.