National Collection of Pathogenic Viruses: A Repository for Well Characterised and Authenticated Viruses

The National Collection of Pathogenic Viruses (NCPV) is one of four repositories making up Public Health England Culture Collections. It was established two decades ago to offer safe and secure facilities for storage of patents and deposits as well as to supply standardised virus products to the wider scientific community. Within the collection are strains of both medical and veterinary importance, with representation from a wide variety of virus families, classified as Hazard Groups 2, 3 and 4 by the Advisory Committee for Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP). These include arboviruses such as Dengue, Yellow-fever, Oropouche and Sandfly fever Naples.

Throughout the year, the collection receives virus deposits. The depositing process is free and simple. The quality of every virus material received in the collection is assessed through a series of tests to confirm viability and absence of microbial contamination (including mycoplasmas). Virus identity is confirmed by nucleic acid profiling. Once standards are met, the virus products are made available to the wider scientific community. In addition to facilitating access to viruses and their associated products as well as secure storage for patents, NCPV also undertakes collaborative projects and contract research/developmental work with academic and commercial partners, by providing expertise in the handling of viral pathogens.

A repository for well-characterised, authenticated viruses is a useful resource for the scientific community, aiding in the understanding of circulating viral pathogens and providing access to quality-assured reference reagents for the identification and development of vaccines and therapeutics in the event of global viral outbreaks.