-BACA-

The Bank of Algae and Cyanobacteria of the Azores (BACA) was created in 2018 and is located at the University of the Azores, Portugal. BACA is also a member of the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC - WDCM #1242), a Pt-mBRCN member and an ECCO member. 

Strains deposited in BACA have been isolated since 2013, from several environments (freshwater, marine, brackish, thermal, and terrestrial), from the nine islands of the Azores archipelago. Currently, this culture collection has approximately 800 microalgae and cyanobacteria strains, of which 57 cyanobacteria strains are publicly available. Several BACA cyanobacteria strains have been shown to be phylogenetically unique reinforcing BACA’s distinctive biodiversity and biotechnological potential. 

• The supply of unialgal/unicyanobacterial strains deposited in the public collection of BACA. 
• The identification of strains using phenotypic and genotypic-based approaches. 
• The isolation of strains from environmental samples and/or from contaminated cultures. 
• Consultancy (isolation, culture maintenance, identification).