To place an order, please call us on Tel: +44 (0) 1224 711100 or fax us on Fax: +44 (0) 1224 711299

An order form can be downloaded here, however orders may also be placed by e-mail (enquiries@ncimb.com).

Payment is now being accepted by credit card except for American Express.

As orders are accepted without written confirmation, all orders must quote an official purchase order number and provide full delivery and invoicing addresses together with a contact telephone number. Also, the VAT number of the organisation to be invoiced must be provided for all orders from EU countries.  Administrative, postage and packing charges and VAT (where applicable) will be added to the invoice. Prices are subject to change without notice.

Rapid response is a priority at NCIMB. If orders from the United Kingdom are received before 1400 hours we will endeavour to dispatch any items by first class mail the same afternoon.

Pre-payment is required for all overseas orders apart from those from the Republic of Ireland and Japan. ACDP Hazard group 1 organisms are despatched by "International signed for" airmail to those countries whose regulations do not prohibit bacterial strains being sent by airmail. Infectious substances are despatched overseas by courier or air freight.

Further information such as our conditions of supply and revival of cultures can be found on our downloads page.

N.B. For reasons of health and safety, cultures are not delivered to private addresses.

N.B. Administration charges, packing charges, postage/courier/air freight charges and VAT (where applicable) will be added to the invoice.   Prices are subject to change without notice.   Invoices for EU countries are issued in both UK Pounds and Euros.

Conditions of supply are governed by a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) and all users of NCIMB cultures are bound by the terms contained therein.

A once only fee of UK Pounds 550 (plus VAT where applicable) is payable for each organism deposited.

This covers the original viability test, issue of official receipts and storage for 30 years, or 5 years after the last date of request for a sample, whichever is the latter.

Subsequent viability tests are charged at UK Pounds 90.

Furnishing of a sample in accordance with rule 11.2 and 11.3 is charged at UK Pounds 70 plus carriage plus a handling charge (for Europe and the rest of the world), or postage, plus packing, plus VAT (UK).

In the case of phages or cosmid DNA, a charge of UK Pounds 60 will be charged for packaging the DNA for transformation.

NCIMB offers a Safe Deposit facillity for micro-organisms (bacteria or plasmids contained in a bacterial host, ACDP hazard groups 1 and 2, genetically modified organisms ACGM class1 and bacteriophages). We also accept orthodox seeds.  Prices on application. Please contact us for more information.

NCIMB, like all major world culture collections, have an overlap in strain holdings where the same strain has been deposited in multiple collections, either at the time of isolation or over subsequent time periods. Collections generally tend to share this information where it is known, and most publish a list of "equivalents" in their catalogues, databases and websites to make life easier for the user scientific community and to provide a choice of supplier.

No culture collection can absolutely guarantee strain "equivalency", in that sometimes wrong information is exchanged or errors in deposition occasionally happen. There also exists the possibility of genetic drift, which in a very few cases may significantly alter the properties or functionality of the strain between collections. That said, all of these scenarios are relative rarities, and it is generally accepted among both culture collections and their users that, for example, when a collection such as NCIMB states that Pseudomonas aeruginosa NCIMB 8295 = NCTC 10332 = DSM 50071 = CECT 110 = CIP 63.52 etc, a culture collection user can purchase essentially the same culture from any of these multiple sources and expect the cultures to be "indistinguishable" from one another.

Please note that claims of "equivalency" by NCIMB do not make any claim upon the handling rights or ownership of that strain. Each culture collection will have its own conditions of supply and/or MTA which may or may not place restrictions or undertakings when using that strain. All culture collection users should take care to read those conditions when purchasing any organism from a culture collection.