NCIMB is celebrating a significant anniversary this year - seventy years ago, the creation of a National Collection of Industrial Bacteria was announced in the journal Nature. The collection took over the non-pathogenic cultures held by the UK’s National Collection of Type Cultures and, at the time, was reported to house some 350 types. The number was expected to increase considerably as the collection became more representative of the needs of industry. This collection went on to merge with the National Collections of Marine and then Food bacteria to create the culture collection that NCIMB Ltd curates today – the National Collection of Industrial, Food and Marine Bacteria.

The collection has continued to grow since 1950, and now includes thousands of strains isolated by scientists around the world, from all kinds of environments. Recent additions to the collection have even included several novel species of human gut bacteria.

NCIMB Ltd has also developed a range of microbiology services tailored to the needs of the food, drink, supplements and pharmaceutical sectors.

So seventy years on, our name is more of a reflection of our history than the contents of our culture collection - we are proud of how the collection has developed over the years so it can continue to meet the needs of both academic researchers and industry – maintaining a genetic resource for the future as well as supplying the cultures that are needed today.

To learn more about our culture collection and microbiology services use the green "Request Information" button below