National Reference Collection

CHAP’S National Reference Collection of biotic crop threats is physically located held at CABI, in Egham and Fera in Sand Hutton near York.

It brings together the world-class collections of these two CHAP partners under one portal. It represents the UK’s first collection of plant associated and pathogenic fungi and bacteria important to UK agriculture and is accessible through a single searchable database to find details of isolates of crop biotic threats.

The reference collection means that commercial organisations in the agri-tech and biotech sectors will be able to access a unique, world-class resource of crop-relevant (and ABS-compliant) biological samples, thereby considerably broadening industry’s scope in the search for new biologicals.

The reference collection aims to improve industry’s ability to access potential candidates for new biopesticides as well as providing crucial target species for traditional pesticide development. The service team also works in close collaboration with CHAP’s Fungal Biopesticide Development Laboratory, with a pipeline of newly collected pathogens and pests.

CHAP’s collection is a unique resource within the UK to support sustainable crop production and will be of particular interest to commercial organisations and academic communities.

Commercial organisations can search for sources of novel biological products and potential biopesticides and exploit the background data to extend plant protection product life. This might include genetically, and geographically, varied field samples of interest to the agrochemical industry, which can then be tested against the standardised reference collection, an important efficiency support and audit requirement for future product registrations. Academic communities, plant breeders, plant pathologists and entomologists who can access the strains and associated data to enhance their investigations. This may aid an understanding of population dynamics of different biotic crop threats.

As well as providing access to the catalogue, the NRC also enables storage for important strains from external sources. That includes both depositing a reference or publication strain into the NRC, or safe and confidential storage of important strains.

Contact CHAP directly to discuss this facility, or if storing strains is part of a patent application process, contact CABI – an IDA (International Depositary Authority) under the Budapest treaty.

Our services include:

Access to novel biological organisms with potential agri-tech applications
Access to a national network of data
Long term storage of key crop reference samples of national importance
Provision of safe storage and confidential deposit of important strains for industry and researchers

Access the National Reference Collection through our portal.

Related Capabilities

Lorem ipsum dolo sit amet Harci ne nem dessimpore quatatur, sunt vit eicaborro que dolute iusdanturion recto eium res rempossi volecte vel ipsaerspicab id que lam, as ipsa nem inus resseque volo quosa vent. Apicipie ndelenihic tem id eturepu ditat consequamus recto eium res rempossi volecte vel ipsaerspicab.

For any further information about this capability go to the NRC Portal or to discuss a collaboration and/or grant for a commercially funded project, complete the form below.