View source for Leibniz Institute DSMZ

{{Short description|German microbial culture collection}}
{{third-party|date=October 2014}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                = Leibniz Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH
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| abbreviation        = DSMZ
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| predecessor         = Collection of Microorganisms Göttingen (SMG)
| merged              = German Collection of Microorganisms (DSM)
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| formation           = 1969
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| type                = Independent, non-profit organization
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| purpose             = National culture collection
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| location            = [[Braunschweig]]
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| fields              = [[Microbiology]], [[Cell Biology]]
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| leader_name         = Jörg Overmann (scientific director), Bettina Fischer (administrative director)
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| affiliations        = [[Leibniz Association]]
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| staff               = 192 (status: December 2020)
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| website             = {{URL|https://www.dsmz.de}}
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The '''Leibniz Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH''' (German: ''Leibniz-Institut DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH''), located in [[Braunschweig]], is a research infrastructure in the [[Leibniz Association]]. Also the DSMZ is the world's most diverse collection  of [[bioresources]] (status 2021: 75,000 bioresources).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Mission |url=https://www.dsmz.de/dsmz/portrait/mission |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Catalogue |url=https://www.dsmz.de/collection/catalogue |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref> These include [[microorganisms]] (including more than 32,000 [[bacterial]] strains, 690 [[archaeal]] strains, 7,000 strains of [[yeasts]] and [[fungi]]) as well as more than 840 human and animal [[cell cultures]], over 1,500 [[plant viruses]], over 940 [[bacteriophages]], and 250 [[plasmids]] (status 2021).<ref name=":1" /> Since 2010, the scientific director of the Leibniz Institute DSMZ has been Jörg Overmann, a microbiologist with a PhD from the University of Konstanz.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Management |url=https://www.dsmz.de/dsmz/portrait/management |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref> He holds a professorship in [[microbiology]] at the [[Technical University of Braunschweig]].<ref name=":2" /> Since August 2018, he has led the institute with leadership with Bettina Fischer as administrative director.<ref name=":2" />
== History ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Year
!Event
|-
|1969
|Establishment Collection of Microorganisms Göttingen (SMG) in the Department of Nutritional Physiology of Microorganisms with Microbial Bank (Administrative Head D. Claus) at the Göttingen Institute of Microbiology of the Society for Radiation Research
|-
|1973
|Official name: German Collection of Microorganisms (DSM)
|-
|1974
|Recognition as official depository by the German Patent Office
|-
|1976
|DSM is spun off and run independently at the Institute of Microbiology
|-
|1979
|Transfer to the Society for Biotechnological Research Braunschweig (Director D. Claus)
|-
|1981
|Recognition as international depository for patent purposes according to the Budapest Treaty
|-
|1987
|Establishment of plant cell lines and human and animal cell cultures as new collection areas
|-
|1988
|Renaming to German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures. DSMZ becomes a GmbH (limited liability company) with the state of Lower Saxony as sole shareholder
|-
|1990
|Plant virus collection added
|-
|1996
|Promotion of the DSMZ as a Blue List institution and subsequently member of the [[Leibniz Association]]
|-
|2010
|Establishment of the collection-independent research area Department of ''Microbial Ecology and Diversity Research''
|-
|2011
|Renaming to Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH
|-
|2014
|Establishment of the research department ''Microbial Genomics'' as part of DSMZ's participation in the German Center for Infection Research
|-
|2016
|Establishment of the new collection department ''Bioresources for Bioeconomy and Health Research''
|-
|2018
|DSMZ becomes the first registered collection for the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol in the EU
|-
|2020
|Move-in of the ''Bioresources for Bioeconomy and Health Research'' Department into the new Center for Drug and Functional Genomics Research. Successful evaluation by the Senate of the [[Leibniz Association]].
|}
==Structure==
Nearly 200 scientists and technical staff currently work at the DSMZ.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-10-21 |title=Bakterien für ein besseres und gesünderes Leben |trans-title=Bacteria for a better and healthier life |url=https://www.dsmz.de/press/press-releases/singleview/bakterien-fuer-ein-besseres-und-gesuenderes-leben |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH |language=de}}</ref> It is a company/non-profit organization recognized as a public benefit.<ref name=":0" /> In 2018, the Leibniz Institute DSMZ was recognized as the world's first registered collection under [[Directive (European Union)]] 511/2014, providing all users with the necessary legal certainty in the handling of their bioresources in accordance with the [[Nagoya Protocol]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Collection |url=https://www.dsmz.de/collection |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Nagoya Protocol |url=https://www.dsmz.de/collection/nagoya-protocol |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref>
The DSMZ is a partner in international organizations such as the [[European Culture Collections' Organisation]] (ECCO), the [[World Federation for Culture Collections]] (WFCC) and the [[Global Biodiversity Information Facility]] (GBIF).<ref>{{Cite web |title=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH: Network |url=https://www.dsmz.de/dsmz/network |access-date=2023-12-26 |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref>
==Functions==
DSMZ is a global service provider with more than 10,000 customers in over 80 countries and provides microorganisms and cell cultures for university, non-university and industrial research in the [[life sciences]]. It also serves as a patent and security depository for biological material (a total of over 11,700 bioresources) in accordance with the guidelines of the [[Budapest Treaty]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Guide to the Deposit of Microorganisms under the Budapest Treaty |url=https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/registration/budapest/guide/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201118130634/https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/registration/budapest/guide/index.html |archive-date=2020-11-18 |website=World Intellectual Property Organization}}</ref> It is the only patent depository for bioresources in Germany.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Patent Deposit |url=https://www.dsmz.de/collection/deposit/patent-deposit |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref> The DSMZ only holds bioresources in [[biosafety level]] 1 and 2.
In 2012, the freely accessible [[database]] BacDive (The Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase)<ref>{{Cite web |title=BacDive |url=https://www.dsmz.de/services/online-tools/bacdive |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref> was established, which is maintained and curated by the DSMZ. The database contains information on a wide variety of strains of [[prokaryotes]]; in 2016, information on 53,978 strains could be found there,<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/44/D1/D581/2503137?login=false| journal=Nucleic Acids Research | date=4 January 2016 | volume=44 | issue=D1 | pages=D581–D585 | doi=10.1093/nar/gkv983 | last1=Söhngen | first1=Carola | last2=Podstawka | first2=Adam | last3=Bunk | first3=Boyke | last4=Gleim | first4=Dorothea | last5=Vetcininova | first5=Anna | last6=Reimer | first6=Lorenz Christian | last7=Ebeling | first7=Christian | last8=Pendarovski | first8=Cezar | last9=Overmann | first9=Jörg | title=Bac ''Dive'' – the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase in 2016 | pmid=26424852 | pmc=4702946 }}</ref> and by 2021, the number had increased to more than 82,000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BacDive {{!}} The Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase |url=https://bacdive.dsmz.de/ |access-date=2023-12-01 |website=bacdive.dsmz.de}}</ref>
==Departments==
In addition to the research departments ''Microbial Ecology and Diversity Research'' <ref>{{Cite web |title=Microbial Ecology and Diversity Research |url=https://www.dsmz.de/research/microbial-ecology-and-diversity-research |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref> and ''Microbial Genome Research'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Microbial Genome Research |url=https://www.dsmz.de/research/microbial-genome-research |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref> the eight departments of the DSMZ include the collection departments ''Microorganisms'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Microorganisms |url=https://www.dsmz.de/research/microorganisms |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref> ''Bioresources for Bioeconomy and Health Research'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bioresources for Bioeconomy and Health Research |url=https://www.dsmz.de/research/bioresources-for-bioeconomy-and-health-research |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref> ''Human and Animal Cell Lines''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Human and Animal Cell Lines |url=https://www.dsmz.de/research/human-and-animal-cell-lines |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref> and ''Plant Viruses'' <ref>{{Cite web |title=Plant Viruses |url=https://www.dsmz.de/research/plant-viruses |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref> as well as the departments ''Analytics'' <ref>{{Cite web |title=Analytics |url=https://www.dsmz.de/research/analytics |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref> and ''Bioinformatics and Databases''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bioinformatics |url=https://www.dsmz.de/research/bioinformatics |website=German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GMBH}}</ref> The establishment of independent junior research groups (as of 2021: ''VirusInteract'' (interactions of plant viruses with their hosts) and ''Microbial Biotechnology'') provides qualification opportunities for young scientists conducting research on selected, current topics.
== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Leibniz Association}}
[[Category:Leibniz Association]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Braunschweig]]
[[Category:Medical research institutes in Germany]]
[[Category:Microbiology organizations]]
[[Category:Culture collections]]
[[Category:Medical and health organisations based in Lower Saxony]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1969]]
[[Category:Research institutes in Lower Saxony]]