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Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 5/31/2013 Publication Date: 5/31/2013 Citation: Ward, T.J. 2013. Overview of the ARS Culture Collection. Meeting Abstract. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Culture Collection in Peoria, IL, maintains more than 95,000 strains of agriculturally and industrially important bacteria and fungi. Most of these isolates are maintained in an open collection that distributes 6,000 – 8,000 strains annually in response to requests from scientists in the U.S. and in 54 other countries around the world. In addition, the ARS Patent Culture Collection contains an additional 6,100 strains, many of which were deposited under the Budapest Treaty in association with patent applications in the United States and any of the 77 other countries that are contracting parties of this microbial patent deposition treaty. The ARS Culture Collection is directed by the Research Leader of the Bacterial Foodborne Pathogens and Mycology Unit and technical operation is handled by two support scientists and an administrative assistant. Research is a critical component of the ARS Culture Collection, which receives direct scientific support from five Ph.D. microbiologists and/or geneticists, who have authored more than 700 scientific publications. These scientists work with the ARS Office of National Programs to develop objectives for an appropriated project that undergoes peer review on a 5 year cycle. The major goals of the current project are to enhance the quality, diversity, and utility of the ARS Culture Collection holdings, and to conduct and support microbiological research that advances agricultural production, food safety, public health, and economic development. |
