INTRODUCTION TO DSMZ, THE GERMAN COLLECTION OF MICROORGANISMS AND CELL CULTURES

Prokaryotes

Plant Cell Cultures

Plant Viruses and Antisera

Human and Animal Cell Cultures

TODAY, DSMZ IS A RENOWNED RESEARCH AND SERVICE INSTITUTION WITH COLLECTIONS OF

Yeasts and Fungi

• DSMZ originated from a purely internal research collection of theInstitute for Microbiology, University Göttingen

• 1969 founded as own department “Mikrobenbank“, later“Sammlung von Mikroorganismen Göttingen“ SMG, on projectfunding

COLLECTION OF BACTERIA, until 1969

SMG

1974 Establishment as DSM, a national service collection for thesupport of the development of national biotechnology ; concept of decentralized, specialized collections, housed in thematically related research institution; Göttingen, being thecentre with patent deposit and supply services, is institutionallyfunded.

Central Göttingen

aerobic endospore formingbacteria, anaerobic endospore and non-spore forming bacteria, photo-trophic bacteria, patent deposit

München

Gram-positive, non spore forming bacteria

Weihenstephan

Gram-negative Eubacteria

Bayreuth

Pseudomonadaceaeand marine bacteria

Berlin I

Phytopathogenicbacteria and fungi

Darmstadt

Actinomycetales

Berlin II

Filamentous fungi, yeasts

INSTITUTE FOR MICROBIOLOGY GÖTTINGEN

DSM

1976 – ‘78 centralization of 3 of the external bacterial collections; only strains, not staff (number of staff in Göttingen: 4 scientists, 8 technical laboratory assistants, 4 further technical assistants )

1979 transferred as independent department to GBF

1986 establishment of additional work groups (additional 5 scientists and 5 technical assistants); projectfunding

1987 move to Braunschweig into own new building and centralization of remaining two external bacterial groups(strains and staff)

organism groups covered by then:

More or less the whole breadth of bacterial and archaealdiversity, aerobic, anaerobic, extremophiles, ….; exceptrisk group 3 organisms;

smaller range of fungi and yeasts (because of CBS, NL; IMI =CABI Bioscience, UK in Europe)

NEW DSMZ BUILDING IN BRAUNSCHWEIG

● 1988 transformed into independent institution under publicfunding

● 1989 – ’90 enlargement by additional departments (animal cells, plant cells, plant viruses); on project funding

● since 1996, DSMZ, after nearly 30 years of instable funding , ‘Blue List‘ Institute, institutional funding, 50% federal government, 50% Länder

1991 Retirement of Director Dr. Dieter Claus

Since '93 New Director: Prof. Dr. Erko Stackebrandt

1974 renamed as DSM and recognized by the German patent office and the European Patent Office for microorganisms

1981 status as International Depositary Authority under the Budapest Treaty for bacteria, fungi, yeasts and bacteriophages

1988 status as IDA for isolated plasmid preparations

1990 incorporation of the IDA ZIMET, Jena

1990 status as IDA for plant viruses and plant cell cultures

1991 status as IDA for animal and human cell cultures

1994 status as IDA for murine embryos

HISTORY OF DSMZ with regard to its patent depositary

DSMZ - GeneralDSMZ - General

in all cases material not exceeding RG 2

DSMZ - GeneralDSMZ - General

STAFF TODAY

SCIENTIFIC STAFF

● 25 PHD LEVEL AND ABOVEBIOLOGISTS, MICROBIOLOGISTS, AGRICULTURAL AND MEDICAL SCIENTISTS

TECHNICAL GRADUATED STAFF

● LABORATORY~ 25 BTAS, CTAS, MTAS, LTAS

● OFFICE~ 14 SECRETARY, INTERNAL ORGANISATION, IMPORT-EXPORT SPECIALISTS, PUBLIC RELATION, COMPUTER SPECIALISTS

TECHNICAL NON GRADUATED STAFF~4 GENERAL HELP, CLEANING GLASS WARE

DIPLOMA AND PhD STUDENTS, POST DOCS, GUEST RESEARCHERS

● Collecting, maintaining and supplying biological diversity of microorganisms, cell cultures and plant viruses

● Research in collection related areas, publication activities, cooperation in research areas (e.g. as editors and reviewers in relevant journals, in ICSP, as consultants, etc.)

● Worldwide cooperation with other collections and in international organisations (e.g. WFCC, ECCO, CABRI, EBRCN, UNESCO, GBIF, EUROCAT, ENBI, OECD-BRC, etc.)

● DSMZ is the national GBIF Node for Prokaryotes and Viruses

MicrobiologyMicrobiology

STORAGE OF FREEZE-DRIED AMPOULES

LIQUID NITROGEN STORAGE

MicrobiologyMicrobiology

MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES: CLOSE INTERLINKAGE OF RESEARCH AND SERVICE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF

MICROBIOLOGY

RECULTIVATION REPLENISHMENT OF STOCKS

NEW ACCESSIONS ENLARGERMENT OF THE COLLECTION

COLLECTION RELATED RESEARCH

IDENTIFICATION

AUTHENTICATION

MicroorganismsMicroorganisms

Phase ContrastMicroscope; standardmagnification: x40; x100

Dissecting Microscope; standard magnification: x0,8 – x2

VIEW OF LABORATORY

MicrobiologyMicrobiology

BIOCHEMICAL TEST SYSTEMSMicrobiologyMicrobiology

MicroorganismsMicroorganisms

INCUBATOR ROOM

MOLAR G+C CONTENT OF DNA

IdentificationIdentification

DNA – DNA HYBRIDIZATION

IdentificationIdentification

DNA ISOLATION

IdentificationIdentification

16S rRNA SEQUENZING

IdentificationIdentification

RIBOPRINTER

IdentificationIdentification

ONE AND TWO DIMENSIONAL TLC FOR CELL WALL ANALYSIS

IdentificationIdentification

DISPATCH DEPARTMENT

MicrobiologyMicrobiology

Quality Management at DSMZ

Implementation of an International Recognised Quality Standard

covering

Management of Expertise and Protection of Diversity:

DIN EN ISO 9001:2000

Expectations from and role in Demonstration Project

Expectations

- transfer in-house procedures into harmonized SOP

- fill gaps identified during comparison of in-house and OECD procedures (e.g. risk assessment)

- develop audit scheme for OECD guidelines alongISO

- develop training schemes

- using synergy effect for working towards a national network of BRCs

Role

- Dagmar Fritze funded for Demonstration Project central secretariat (BMBF, DSMZ)

- output from DSMZ projects (e.g. EMbaRC, training) or internal work provided to workpackages (e.g. lessons learnt from ISO 9000 implementation)

- international contacts (e.g. regional input from ECCO)

THANK YOU !