- Introduction
- Salient Features
- Facilities
- Functions
- Bench-Scale Technologies Developed
- General References
- Acknowledgements
About NCIM
»
Introduction
At the suggestions of Dr. S.S. Bhatnagar, Director, Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research India, "The
National Collection of Type Cultures" (NCTC) was started in 1941 at
the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore,
under the direction of Prof. M. Sreenivasaya.
In 1951, the culture collection was transferred to the
then Biochemistry Division of the National Chemical Laboratory,
Pune, under the direction of Dr. M. Damodaran. In
1956, it was decided that the culture collection will maintain only
organisms of value to research and industry and
hence the name was changed from NCTC to National Collection of
Industrial Microorganisms (NCIM). NCIM was designated
as a Resource Centre of NCL in 2002. NCIM consists of around 3700
strains of algae, bacteria, fungi and yeast. Only
nonpathogenic cultures are maintained in the collection. NCIM is one
of the largest culture collections in India and
is a member of World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC).
About NCIM
»
Salient Features
-
A unique nonprofit resource center dedicated to the
isolation, collection, preservation and distribution of
authentic cultures of industrially important microorganisms.
-
A facility performing research to ensure authenticity of the
materials in the culture collection and
improving the methods of maintenance, preservation and
distribution of these materials.
-
A facility aiming at strengthening the science related to
industrial microbiology and offering contract
research services.
-
A facility serving as the training center in the area of
isolation and preservation of industrially
important strains.
About NCIM
»
Facilities
- Highly experienced personnels in the
area of isolation and preservation of microbial strains
- An in-house well equipped culture
collection facility required for training in the area.
- Expertise in the area of strain
improvement needed for industries related to microbiology.
-
NCIM constantly acquires knowledge base in the area by
constant research & development to suit the needs of
the research institutes and industries.
- Microbiological testing of samples
About NCIM
»
Functions
-
Preservation, and molecular characterization of the
microbial strains by variety of methods including
lyophilization and liquid nitrogen thereby maintaining the
microbial bio-diversity found in the country.
-
Distribution of authentic cultures to research institutes
and industries thereby promoting the research &
development in the country.
-
NCIM acts as depository of patent strains in addition to the
strains used for basic research indirectly helping
to retain important microbial flora in the country.
-
NCIM has the expertise in the isolation of industrially
important strains needed for development of
microbial-based technologies. We undertake contract research
in this area.
-
Consultancy services include sequencing services,
antimicrobial susceptibiity testing, enzyme related projects
etc.
About NCIM
»
Bench-Scale Technologies Developed
Bench scale technologies for following processes are developed:
- Chemo enzymatic route for
D(-)phenylglycine from DL-5-phenylhydantion
- Prostaglandin intermediate
preparation of 4(R)-hydroxy cyclopent-2-en1(S)-acetate
- Thermostable galactosidase &
phytase from fungus
- Highly acidic lipase from Aspergillus
niger
- Lactic acid production using improved
strain
About NCIM
»
General References
Taxonomy :
BACTERIA :
-
"Bergey's Mannual of Systematic Bacteriology". vol.1 (1984);
vol. 2 (1986); vol. 3 and 4 (1989). Williams and
Wilkins, Baltimore, USA.
- "International Journal of Systematic
Bacteriology" ASM Publication, Washington D.C. USA.
-
"Illustrated Genera of Imperfect Fungi" by H. L. Barnett,
Burgess Publishing Company, Minneapolis, USA. Second
Edition, 1965.
- "The Genus Aspergillus" by K.B. Raper
and D. I. Fennell, Williams and Wilkins Co., Baltimore,
1965.
- "Genera of Fungi sporulating in pure
culture" by J.A. Von Arx Vaduz (Germany) J.Cramer, 1974.
- "The Yeasts" (A Taxonomic study) by
J. Lodder. North Holland Publishing Co., Amsterdam, 1970.
- "The Yeasts" by A.H.Rose and
J.H.Harrison. Vol.1 (1987) and vol. 4 (1991). Academic
Press, London, UK.
Assay Methods:
-
"Practical Methods for the Microbiological Assay of the
vitamin B-complex and amino acids" by E.C.Barton -
Wright,United Trade Press, London, 1961.
- "Analytical Microbiology" by F.
Kavanagh, Academic Press,1963.
-
"Official, Standardised and recommended Methods of
Analysis"by S.C.Jolly, Society for Analytical Chemistry,
Cambidge,1963.
- U.S.Pharmacopoeia, 1980.
- British Pharmacopoeia, 1980; Addendum
1983.
-
"Assay Methods of Antibiotics" by D.C.Grove and W.A.Randall,
Antibiotics Monographs No. 2, New York, Medical
Encyclopidia, Inc., 1955.
- "The Vitamins" by Paul Gyorgy, Vol.I,
Acdemic Press, New York 1950.
Media and Maintenance:
- "Methods in Microbiology" (Vol
I-VIII) by T.R.Morris and D.W.Robinson, Academic Press, New
York, 1969-1973.
-
"Maintenance of Microorganisms and Culture Cells" A Mannual
of Laboratory Methods, by B.E. Kirsop and A. Doyle,
Academic Press, New York, 1991.
- "Handbook of Microbiological Media"
by R.M.Atlas and ed. by L.C.Parks, C.R.C.Press, London.
1993.
Production and Miscellaneous:
- "Industrial Microbiology" by
A.H.Rose, Butterworths, London ,1961.
-
"Manual of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology" by
A.L.Demain and N.A.Solomon, American Society for
Microbiology, Washington D.C. 1986.
-
"Enzyme Technology for Industrial Applications" by
L.M.Savage, IBC Biomedical Library Series, Southborough,
USA.1996.
About NCIM
»
Acknowledgements
We wish to acknowledge gifts of cultures from several culture
collections, viz. Prairie Regional Laboratory,
Saskatoon, Canada; National Collection of Yeast Cultures, Nutfield,
Surrey, London; National Collection of
Industrial and Marine Bacteria Ltd. Aberdeen, Scotland and various
other culture collections, Collections marked
with an asterisk in the list of abbreviation which have donated the
cultures. Special mention should be made of
National Collection of Industrial and Marine Bacteria Ltd. Aberdeen,
Scotland, for giving us nearly 350 cultures of
bacteria as a free gift. Many of the references have been drawn from
the NCIB Catalogue and permission from the
Director of Torry Research Station to quote from their catalogue is
gratefully acknowledged. We are also indebted to
individuals who have generously supplied cultures to this
collection.
