German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures

The DSMZ - Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen (German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures) GmbH was founded in 1969 as the national culture collection in Germany. It originally was part of the Gesellschaft für Strahlenforschung (GSF) but was later moved to Braunschweig to become a department within the Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung mbH (GBF). In 1988 the DSMZ became an independent body set up in the form of a private limited company (GmbH). In 1996 the DSMZ was recognized as a Blaue Liste institution (Blue List institution), financially supported by the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology and the State Ministries.

The DSMZ is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the acquisition, characterization and identification, preservation and distribution of Bacteria, Archaea, fungi, plasmids, phages, human and animal cell lines, plant cell cultures and plant viruses. The DSMZ is the most comprehensive resource centre of biological material in Europe. The culture collections and the scientific services are used not only for fundamental research, but also for the elucidation and solution of environmental problems, process of industrial production and ecological development.

The DSMZ is recognized as an International Depositary Authority (IDA) for the deposit of biological material under the Budapest Treaty.

Main Funktions:

• To collect, maintain and store microorganisms and cell lines, as well as other biological material of relevance for applied biology, biotechnology, microbiology, teaching and other areas of research and general application,
  
• To keep the scientific and industrial community informed on the contents of the collections by the means of catalogues, special lists, databases or electronic media,
  
• To supply scientists and institutions with DSMZ cultures, in accordance with national and international laws, such as the "Infektionsschutzgesetz" (Act dealing with protection against infection), Genetic Engineering Act, and the Foreign Trade Laws, the Convention on Biological Diversity as well as the DSMZ terms of supply,
  
• To function as an internationally recognized collection for the deposit of microorganisms, cell lines, and other biological material which has been cited in the scientific literature or which are used in national or international test procedures (e.g. type strains, reference strains for national and international quality control regulations or susceptibility tests, strains with special properties, such as the production of enzymes, degradation of pollutants, host strains for plasmids, etc.),
  
• To act, on a confidential basis, as a centre for the safe deposit of biological material and the deposit of biological material for patent purposes under national law and the Budapest Treaty,
  
• To act as an advisory centre for the scientific community and to offer teaching and service facilities.

DSMZ is member of World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC), European Culture Collections´ Organization (ECCO) and of Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (WGL).

German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures
Mascheroder Weg 1b
38124 Braunschweig
Tel: +49 (0)531 / 2616 - 0
Fax: +49 (0)531 / 2616 - 418
E-Mail: help@dsmz.de

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Further Information: www.dsmz.de/