-ECACC-

Members holdings

Group(s) of biological resources stored in the collection: animal cells including human and hybridoma cell lines.

The European Collection of Authenticated Cell Cultures (ECACC) was established in 1984 as a cell culture collection to service the research community and provide an International Depository Authority recognised patent depository for Europe. Over the last 40 years ECACC has expanded and diversified to become one of the premier collections of authenticated cell cultures in the world and this remains the core of ECACC’s business. The collections currently hold over 40,000 cell lines representing 45 different species, 50 tissue types, 300 HLA types, and 450 monoclonal antibodies.

The development and maintenance of such a diverse collection has inevitably produced a high level of specialist knowledge and this, combined with the support of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), has enabled ECACC to position itself as a centre of expertise in all aspects of cell culture. ECACC has developed a comprehensive range of cell culture services and diversified into new product areas such as high-quality genomic DNA extracted from cell lines.

ECACC is one of the four collections (ECACC, NCTC, NCPV and NCPF) of the Culture Collections of the UK Health Security Agency.

Services offered

Supply of frozen cultures
  • Contract cell banking
  • Cell line authentication services (speciation and human STR)
  • Mycoplasma and sterility testing services
  • Epstein Barr Virus transformation from peripheral blood lymphocytes and frozen whole blood
  • Deposit of strains for public access or for safekeeping
  • International Deposit Authority (IDA) for the deposit of biological material under the Budapest Treaty
  • Training courses

    • Research

  • Member of the International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC).
  • Molecular authentication methods for cell lines of non-human origin.
  • Induced pluripotent stem cells.
  • Three dimensional cell culture systems.

    • Quality Management System

  • ECACC is certified to BS EN 9001: 2015 and all aspects of the collection are managed in accordance of the requirements of the standard.
  • ECACC Quality Control testing methods are accredited in accordance with the recognised International Standard to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories.
  • ECACC is licensed under section 16 of the Human Tissue Act 2004 for the storage of material (whole blood and peripheral blood lymphocytes) for specific research purposes.