The role of whole genome sequencing in reducing the risk of AMR spread

As we reach the end of World AMR Awareness Week, Microbiome Services Manager Julie MacKinnon reflects on the role of whole genome sequencing in assessing strains intentionally used in the food chain to ensure they do not add to the pool of antimicrobial resistance genes in the gut. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top global public health threats, with bacterial AMR estimated to have been directly responsible for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer respond to …

NCIMB attends World Intellectual Property Organization Meeting

NCIMB Senior Scientist Sammi McIntosh headed to the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva last week, to represent NCIMB at the Meeting of Member States and International Depository Authorities (IDAs) under the Budapest Treaty. In this blog post she reflects on the event. The patenting system was developed to stimulate innovation, offering protection in exchange for disclosure. This allows other inventors to understand the latest advances and build on them to develop new inventions. For most inventions, disclosure involves publication of a written description and drawings. But for inventions that …

Dr Edward Green to highlight potential for biotech application of NCIMB microbial strains at Scottish Fermentation Network Meeting.

NCIMB’s CEO Dr Edward Green is presenting at the 12th Scottish Fermentation Network meeting in Glasgow on Wednesday 8 November 2023. The theme of this one-day conference, which has been jointly organised by IBioIC and the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), is “Sustainable Biobased Chemicals Production – Towards a Low Carbon Future”, and Edward will be highlighting how NCIMB can support that vision through the strains within our culture collection and the supporting services we provide to industry. NCIMB’s culture collection, the National Collection of Industrial, Food and Marine Bacteria …

Meet us at RMF 2023!

Our consultant Microbiologist Dr Carol Devine will be attending the Reservoir Microbiology Forum (RMF) in London on 15 November. The event is run by the Energy Institute (EI) with the support of a small working group within the EI’s Microbiology Committee, of which Carol has been a member for a number of years. Excellent and welcoming event RMF is an excellent and very welcoming multi-disciplinary platform that brings together oil producers, scientists, technologists, engineers, academics and researchers from around the world to present, share, and discuss the widespread and versatile …

Visit our stand at the Pharmig Annual Conference!

NCIMB will be exhibiting at the Pharmig Conference, at the Delta Hotel Nottingham Belfry on 28th & 29th November. This annual event is focused on hot topics in pharmaceutical microbiology, with presentations from leading industry experts. It is always informative and enjoyable and provides a great opportunity for us to catch up with some of our pharma sector customers and introduce ourselves to new faces! NCIMB’s identification services manager will be on the stand to to answer any questions about how the microbial identification services, and quality control products we …

We know our onions at NCIMB!

The National Collection of Industrial, Food and Marine Bacteria is constantly growing due to new additions from the research community. Strains in the collection have been isolated from diverse environments and have all kinds of uses, from research to improve understanding of plant pathology to biotechnology and green chemistry applications – and much more! Recent additions to the collection include NCIMB 15427 Curtobacterium allii, an actinobacterial pathogen causing onion bulb rot. The strain was isolated from an onion bulb and deposited at NCIMB by Texas A&M University AgriLife researchers. A …