-CRB-Leish-

About 6600 strains of the protozoan parasite Leishmania, originating from 67 countries. The isolation of strains from the diverse components of the epidemiological cycle (human, animal reservoir, sandfly vector) in the same focus is a considerable added value to this collection. All strains are cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen and all steps of the strain management (receipt, in vitro cultivation, cryopreservation, typing, and distribution) are followed in detail using a specific software.

Receipt, preservation and distribution of Leishmania strains.

See website.

The Department of Parasitology-Mycology is engaged into a Quality management system, a  necessary step towards the accreditation of all medical biology laboratories (ISO 15189 certification). Christophe Ravel (a member of the NRC--L) is deputy Quality manager for the Department.

With respect to the NRC-L, a Quality management system has been set up since 2006 with the objectives of a certification under the norm NF S96-900. With this aim in mind, Loïc Talignani and Christophe Ravel have implemented the Quality management system in the NRC and BRC. Monthly meetings allow maintaining the dynamics of this strategy all long the year. Among other things, the traceability of the whole process (receipt, cultivation, cryopreservation, typing and distribution) is entirely followed using a specific software. This has been done for years using a software specifically designed for the collection (ModulBio database, secured under Oracle); but in 2013, a large collaborative work was carried out by the NRC-L with the French Network of BRCs in Microbiology (FBRCMi) in order to adopt a common software for sample management, termed BRC-LIMS. This project was initiated by the Institut Pasteur (Dr Chantal Bizet) and supported by the GIS IBiSA (Infrastructures in Health Biology and Agronomy) was finally tested and validated during 3 months before replacing entirely the old application.