About CNCM

• Presentation

The National Collection of Cultures of Microorganisms (CNCM) is an International Depositary Authority (IDA) under the Budapest Treaty (BT). It is an autonomous unit, ensuring the safeguarding of the integrity and the controlled accessibility of microorganisms and cell lines deposited for the purposes of patent procedures.

The CNCM is the only IDA in France and the second in Europe in relation to the number of deposits received since obtaining the IDA status in 1984.

• Missions

As patent authority, the CNCM receives deposits for national and international patent procedures.

The CNCM accepts bacteria, filamentous fungi, yeasts, bacteriophages, viruses and animal and human cell lines. Microorganisms are accepted indifferently whether they are genetically modified or not. Plasmids are not recognized by the CNCM as "type of microorganism", but as part of the properties of the microorganism.

• History

• Statistics

• Networks

Raquel Hurtado-Ortiz, Head of the CNCM, is member of:

• The board of the  European Culture Collections’ Organisation (ECCO)
• The World Federation of Culture Collections (WFCC)
• The Budapest Treaty Forum, managed by WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization)
• The Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure (MIRRI)
• RI-VIS consortium (Expanding research infrastructure visibility to strengthen strategic partnerships)
• The Digital Sequence Information (DSI) Scientific Network
• The Governing Board of the European project ISIDORe.