The United States Culture Collection Network

What The United States Culture Collection Network does

The United States Culture Collection Network (USCCN) is a nonprofit Research Coordination Network founded in 2012 to coordinate the U.S. microbial culture collection community, filling the void left when the U.S. Federation of Culture Collections became inactive. USCCN connects curators, scientists, and stakeholders at academic institutions, government agencies, and industry through annual conferences, workshops, webinars, site visits, and peer-reviewed publications. Its core participants include major public collections such as ATCC, the USDA-ARS Culture Collection (NRRL, ~95,000 strains), the UC Davis Phaff Yeast Culture Collection (~7,500 strains), the E. coli Reference Center at Penn State (~90,000 strains), the UTEX Culture Collection of Algae (~3,000 strains), the Fungal Genetics Stock Center, and the E. coli Genetic Stock Center at Yale. Under USCCN 2.0 (2022-2027), the network is building a central registry and searchable database of microbial collections worldwide.

USCCN's product surface consists of a Culture Collections Registry, peer-reviewed publications and position papers, an annual conference, recurring workshops, the J. Roger Porter Award (awarded annually since at least 2021), and a planned Central Registry and Collection Database. The underlying technology is an informational and membership website (usccn.org) with social channels, newsletter distribution, and a partner integration with the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) for strain sequencing nominations. International linkage is maintained through an MOU with MIRRI-ERIC and collaboration with the Biodiversity Collections Network and the International Alliance for Phytobiomes Research.

USCCN operates as a nonprofit funded exclusively by the National Science Foundation through Research Coordination Network grants (#1534564 and #2124633). Since April 2022, USCCN 2.0 has been administered by the International Alliance for Phytobiomes Research, with Dusti Gallagher as Manager. The network does not charge for participation, sells no products, and generates no commercial revenue; all services, events, and resources are provided at no cost to members. The organization is a coordination infrastructure layer for the microbial collections ecosystem rather than a commercial enterprise.

Name

The United States Culture Collection Network

Legal name

United States Culture Collection Network

Website

https://usccn.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The United States Culture Collection Network is a nonprofit Research Coordination Network founded in 2012 that connects curators and scientists across U.S. microbial culture collections through conferences, publications, and a planned registry database, funded by NSF grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Research Coordination Network / Scientific Community Services

NAICS

Business Associations (813910), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Technical Committees, Working Groups & Expert Panels (BPADANAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)

Keywords

• Microbial culture collections
• Research coordination network
• Biobank coordination services
• Microbial resource management
• Scientific community network

Headquarters

HQ city

Saint Paul

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. NSF Grant Funding: USCCN is supported by the National Science Foundation through grants #1534564 and #2124633. The network operates as a Research Coordination Network without commercial revenue generation.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The United States Culture Collection Network (USCCN) is a Research Coordination Network that facilitates coordination among U.S. microbial culture collections through a central Culture Collections Registry, conferences, workshops, webinars, publications, and the J. Roger Porter Award. It connects culture collection curators, academic researchers, government agencies, and industry stakeholders to promote best practices, training, standardization, and international collaboration in microbial resource management.

Product overview

The United States Culture Collection Network (USCCN) is a Research Coordination Network (not a traditional product company) that provides a coordinated platform connecting microbial culture collections. The core offerings include a Culture Collections Registry for locating specimens, USCCN Publications for best practices guidance, annual USCCN Conferences and Workshops for community engagement, the J. Roger Porter Award for recognizing excellence in microbial stewardship, and a planned Central Registry and Collection Database. The network also maintains searchable database links and tools for collection management. USCCN serves as a coordination hub rather than a direct provider of microbial specimens, facilitating access to distributed collections maintained by universities, government agencies, and industry partners.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• USCCN Culture Collections Registry

Quantifiable outcome

• Co-authored 12 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters in the first decade of operation
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered major, host, core and support.

• Joint Genome Institute (JGI)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 28 June 2024USCCN-JGI Strain Sequencing Opportunity allows researchers using the U.S. Culture Collection Network to nominate their strains for sequencing by JGI, as long as they have a scientific question relevant to DOE missions. Researchers can nominate strains through a dedicated nomination form.
• UC DavishostStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 June 2024USCCN held its 'Genome Sequencing and Microbial Resources' workshop at UC Davis, CA on June 10-11, 2024. The workshop explored challenges and opportunities related to microbial genome sequencing.
• MIRRI-ERIC (Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 November 2022Memorandum of Understanding signed to strengthen, promote and enhance cooperation between USCCN and MIRRI. The partnership establishes cooperation in three main areas: organizing common events and aligning communications; sharing information on Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for preserving and maintaining microbial culture collections; and granting each other access to respective databases and registries. Foreseen activities include joint publication of policy briefs, organization of networking events, exchange of expertise on SOPs, and development of catalogues under common standards and FAIR principles.
• Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 November 2022USCCN collaborated with BCoN to publish a Special Report in BioScience providing guidance on implementing a specimen management plan requirement for research proposals. The partnership also held joint webinars on the need for specimen management plans.
• U.S. Department of State / Interagency Working Group on Scientific CollectionssupportStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 April 2022USCCN is supporting efforts to identify Ukrainian scientific collections that may be under threat due to the ongoing military conflict. The network is helping to quickly identify relevant collections and their needs by collecting information through a Google Form.
• International Alliance for Phytobiomes ResearchcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 April 2022The Phytobiomes Alliance was awarded a five-year NSF grant to administer phase two of USCCN (USCCN 2.0). This nonprofit consortium of industry, academia, and governmental entities from around the globe facilitates coordination of international efforts toward expanding phytobiomes research. The alliance manages USCCN 2.0 from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2027, expanding the network's scope and building global relationships.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• ATCC (American Type Culture Collection): ATCC is the leading global commercial biological materials resource, distributing microorganisms and cell lines worldwide. It is one of USCCN's named institutional participants and the dominant incumbent that USCCN's coordinator role partially complements; both sit at the intersection of microbial culture preservation and researcher access.
• Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures: DSMZ is one of the world's largest culture collections, housing bacteria, fungi, yeasts, plasmids, and cell lines. It operates as a national/international hub functionally analogous to ATCC, and represents the kind of institutional collection that USCCN connects researchers to.
• Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute (formerly CBS-KNAW): The Westerdijk Institute maintains one of the world's largest fungal culture collections and is a peer for coordinating national/international culture collection infrastructure. It operates the same kind of curated fungal biodiversity resources that USCCN's member collections, including the Fungal Genetics Stock Center, complement.

Regional players

• BCCM (Belgian Coordinated Collections of Microorganisms): BCCM is a Belgium-based consortium of coordinated culture collections, structurally analogous to USCCN's role in coordinating U.S. collections. It is one of the constituent partners within MIRRI and offers a comparable national-coordinator model in a European context.
• NCIMB (National Collection of Industrial, Food and Marine Bacteria): NCIMB is a UK-based culture collection serving industrial, food, and marine biotechnology users. It is comparable to USCCN's member collections in scope and serves as a regional peer for industrial-focused microbial resource stewardship.
• Culture Collections UK (CCUK): CCUK is a UK national coordinating body for multiple culture collections at public sector institutes. It offers a direct international parallel to USCCN's coordinating-network model, providing shared services and access for member collections within a single country framework.

Direct peers

• MIRRI-ERIC (Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure): MIRRI is the European pan-national research infrastructure for microbial resources, directly comparable to USCCN as a coordinating network for culture collections. The two organizations signed an MOU in 2022 to share SOPs, databases, and policy work, making MIRRI USCCN's closest international peer.
• World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC): WFCC is the global umbrella organization for culture collections, providing international coordination, data resources, and policy advocacy. It operates one organizational layer above USCCN's regional scope but performs a parallel convening function for culture collection stakeholders worldwide.

Emerging players

• Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN): BCoN is a U.S. national network focused on biodiversity collections broadly, and a documented USCCN partner for specimen management policy work. It addresses an adjacent (broader) taxonomic scope but operates with a similar coordinating-network model for research collections.

Others

• International Alliance for Phytobiomes Research: The Phytobiomes Alliance is the parent nonprofit that administers USCCN 2.0 under NSF grant #2124633. It is a closely related ecosystem partner rather than a direct competitor, coordinating international phytobiomes research with overlapping microbial resource interests.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/USCCN3
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/us-culture-collection-network

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about The United States Culture Collection Network