Culture Collections: ensuring reproducibility in biomedical science

Public Health England (PHE) is the custodian of four unique culture collections of bacteria, fungi, cell lines and viruses, known as the National Collection of Type Cultures (NCTC), the National Collection of Pathogenic Fungi (NCPF), the European Collection of Authenticated Cell Cultures (ECACC), and the National Collection of Pathogenic Viruses (NCPV). The four collections are a biological resource centre (BRC) which consists of expertly preserved, authenticated microbial strains/cell lines of known provenance. The strains and cell lines are used by scientists around the world as controls in laboratory healthcare and industry, as reference strains when investigating host-pathogen interactions, and for developing vaccines and treatments for disease. The use of authenticated strains and cell lines in these settings is essential to ensure valid and relevant diagnostic test results and scientific conclusions.

The four collections have a fascinating history spanning almost a century. The first of the collections to be formed was the National Collection of Type Cultures; founded in 1920, it is the longest-established collection of its type anywhere in the world. Originally the collection was housed at the Lister Institute of Preventative Medicine in London. The first strains in the collection were collected by Sir Fredrick William Andrews, who collated around 200 strains of shigellae during the First World War. Subsequently, the NCTC continued to develop and it is now one of the most diverse and relevant collections of type strains and reference strains in the world, holding almost 6000 strains isolated from around the globe.

Strains of historical interest include an isolate from Alexander Fleming’s nose (NCTC 4842 Haemophilus influenzae) and isolates donated by well-known microbiologists such as Robert Koch and Theodore Escherich. The remit of the collection in the early days was broad, and the collection included both bacteria and fungi. In 1947, however, it was agreed that NCTC would focus on bacteria of medical and veterinary importance. The NCTC curator, Dr Samuel Cowen (co- author of Cowen and Steel’s Manual for Identification of Medically Important Bacteria), transferred non-medical bacterial and fungal cultures to other specialised collections within the UK, including the newly formed fungal collection, the National Collection of Pathogenic Fungi. This was formally named and gained funding in 1946 and was originally housed at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).