Long-Term Ex Situ Conservation of Biological Resources and the Role of Biological Resource Centers

The establishment and maintenance of biological resource centers (BRCs) requires careful attention to implementation of reliablepreservation technologies and appropriate quality control to ensure that recovered cultures and other biological materialsperform in the same way as the originally isolated culture or material. There are many types of BRC that vary both in thekinds of material they hold and in the purposes for which the materials are provided. All BRCs are expected to provide materialsand information of an appropriate quality for their application and work to standards relevant to those applications. Thereare important industrial, biomedical, and conservation issues that can only be addressed through effective and efficient operationof BRCs in the long term. This requires a high degree of expertise in the maintenance and management of collections of biologicalmaterials at ultra-low temperatures, or as freezedried material, to secure their long-term integrity and relevance for futureresearch, development, and conservation.