BIOBANKING


Ongoing independent laboratory trials have accumulated up to 30 years of successful data both for bacterial and fungal cultures stored with the Microbank system.


There are over 700 culture collections


in more than 70 countries registered in the World Data Centre for Microorganisms (htps://wdcm.org) set up as a data centre for the World Federation for Culture Collections. The WDCM catalogues many millions of microbial strains across these collections, encompassing bacteria, fungi, viruses, cell lines and other biological agents. Familiar members include the UK’s National Collection of Type Cultures (NCTC), founded in 1920 and recognised as the longest-established collection of its type in the world. NCTC also serves as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Microbial Resource Centre. Another major repository is the Leibniz Institute DSMZ – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures in Germany, which now holds more than 91,000 bioresources, including over 32,000 bacterial strains, around 690 archaeal strains and more than 7,000 fungal strains, making it one of the largest and most diverse biological resource centres worldwide. In the United States, the American Type Culture Collection similarly plays a pivotal role in the preservation and global distribution of authenticated microbial strains and cell cultures for research, industry and education. All of these organisations offer


invaluable service to the science community, providing resources of reference microorganisms and cell lines for research and diagnostic purposes.


Microbank Microbank, developed and manufactured by Pro-Lab Diagnostics, has offered a solution to laboratories for the efficient storage of bacterial cultures for over 35 years. It is an advanced platform that utilises specially etched porous glass beads and a uniquely formulated cryopreservative.


Ongoing independent laboratory


trials have accumulated up to 30 years of successful storage data both for bacterial and fungal cultures, including fastidious bacteria such as Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Campylobacter spp. and anaerobes. Each vial contains approximately 25 sterile coloured beads (single colour) and the unique cryopreservative. The specially treated beads are of a porous nature allowing microorganisms to readily adhere to the bead surface. After inoculation, the vials are kept at –20°C to –70°C for extended storage. When a fresh culture is required, a single bead is removed from the vial and used directly to inoculate a suitable culture medium. The 2D barcodes on the box and vials provide a freezer-safe, non-erasable label that can be scanned. The Microbank Worldwide Performance


Portfolio (MWWPP) is an essential reference guide including data from many international bacterial and fungal culture collections. Since its launch in 1991 it has gathered real-world performance data, peer-reviewed studies and long-term storage outcomes from renowned culture collection centres, demonstrating the Microbank system’s durability, consistency and ease of use. In collaboration with many international users in clinical, reference and research setings, we continue to build a deeper evidence base to support sample viability, traceability (via 2D-barcoding) and simplified retrieval workflows. At Pro-Lab Diagnostics, we believe


that robust culture preservation is foundational to microbiology excellence, whether that’s diagnostics, research, reference collections or industry applications. By contributing data to the Microbank Worldwide Performance Portfolio, laboratories become a part of a shared mission to raise standards, increase traceability and safeguard microbial assets for the long term. In particular, the original work done at the UK Anaerobe Reference Unit (UKARU)


26 WWW.PATHOLOGYINPRACTICE.COM April 2026


in Cardiff is currently being revisited and updated for all original strains included. We have worked closely with the team at the UKARU, Trefor Morris, Michael Perry, and Sarah Copsey-Mawer, for many years, and are grateful for their guidance and support. The unit is currently preparing for a full update on survival times for the Sixth Edition of the Microbank Worldwide Performance Portfolio. The UKARU provides an identification and antimicrobial resistance reference service for anaerobic bacteria for the UK, offering reference standard antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) by agar dilution and molecular detection of resistance mechanisms. UKARU acts as the central laboratory for Wales for culture and full characterisation by WGS of Clostridioides difficile and provides UK-wide clinical guidance for all anaerobic infections. The research interests of the UKARU


include commercial evaluations of AST products and C. difficile detection methods. The unit also provides reference level support for collaborations with the European Commitee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) and the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI).


Assessing long-term storage The continuous evaluation at the Anaerobic Reference Centre (Cardiff) has demonstrated that the Microbank can offer a long-term solution. Vials were inoculated with clinical isolates of obligatory anaerobic bacteria referred to the Anaerobe Reference Unit for confirmation of identity, and were frozen at –80°C. A total of 100 isolates were selected to represent the range of species commonly isolated from clinical material All 100 strains of anaerobic bacteria


of clinical origin were viable after storage in Microbank vials at –80°C for 10 years. Most strains yielded moderate to heavy growth from a single bead after 48 hours’ incubation, but three strains yielded only light growth after five days’ incubation. These comprised one of the two strains of Prevotella denticola examined, one of four Fusobacterium nucleatum strains and one strain of Fusobacterium varium. The same 100 vials were sampled


previously for viability after five and seven years’ storage. However, 34 of those 100 isolates had changed names since their original identification. These changes reflect advances in taxonomy and identification methods over the decade. Additional reference studies for the


Microbank for numerous isolates are available in the Microbank Worldwide Performance Portfolio. Some species have simply been placed in novel genera and, in some cases,


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