CBS (Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute)

CBS (Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute)
Name	CBS (Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute)
Established	1904
Location	Utrecht, Netherlands
Type	Research institute, culture collection
Parent organization	Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

Contents

CBS (Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute) is a Dutch research institute and culture collection specializing in mycology, microbial biodiversity, and fungal taxonomy, situated in Utrecht. It originated from early 20th-century efforts tied to botanical research and has evolved into an international repository used by researchers from institutions such as Harvard University, Smithsonian Institution, Kew Gardens, and Max Planck Society. The institute collaborates with agencies like European Commission, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and World Health Organization on biodiversity and biosecurity programs.

History

Founded in 1904 amid initiatives linked to Leiden University and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, the institute built on precedents set by figures such as Johannes Zwaan and collections comparable to Herbarium Amsterdam. Early directors engaged with networks including Delft University of Technology, Utrecht University, and botanical gardens like Hortus Botanicus Leiden, aligning with pan-European efforts by institutions such as Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle and Botanical Society of Scotland. During the mid-20th century the institute expanded under influences from collaborations with University of Cambridge and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, integrating methods developed at Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology and exchanging strains with repositories including American Type Culture Collection. Later decades saw coordination with European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Wellcome Trust, and national agencies like Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research to modernize facilities and databanks.

The institute curates one of the world's largest fungal culture collections with hundreds of thousands of accessions comparable in scope to holdings at Natural History Museum, London, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, and National Museum of Natural History (France). Its facilities support cryopreservation, lyophilization, and controlled-temperature storage following standards used by European Culture Collections' Organisation and World Federation for Culture Collections. The collection includes type strains referenced in monographs from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and repositories cited by journals like Mycologia, Persoonia, and Fungal Biology Reviews. Exchanges and deposits have been carried out under frameworks involving Convention on Biological Diversity, Nagoya Protocol, and bilateral agreements with institutions such as Rijksmuseum and Naturalis Biodiversity Center.

Research programs span molecular systematics, phylogenomics, secondary metabolite analysis, and fungal ecology with outputs published alongside collaborators from University of Oxford, University of California, Berkeley, ETH Zurich, and Princeton University. Taxonomic work refines classifications in groups like Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Zygomycota, and Chytridiomycota and informs nomenclature governed by the International Botanical Congress and practices adopted by International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants. Methodological advances have been made using techniques from European Molecular Biology Laboratory, sequencing platforms developed at Illumina, and bioinformatics tools originated at European Bioinformatics Institute and National Center for Biotechnology Information. Projects have collaborated with conservation partners including IUCN and monitoring initiatives like Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

The institute operates databanks and identification services integrated with global resources such as Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Index Fungorum, MycoBank, and Biodiversity Heritage Library. It provides identification, authenticity testing, and deposition services used by laboratories in networks like European Union Reference Laboratories and by pharmaceutical partners including GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer for strain verification. Services align with standards from International Organization for Standardization and involve partnerships with repositories like American Type Culture Collection and Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen for exchange and accreditation.

The institute runs training courses, workshops, and summer schools in collaboration with universities such as Utrecht University, Wageningen University, University of Cambridge, and University of São Paulo, and with societies like British Mycological Society and International Mycological Association. Outreach includes public exhibitions coordinated with venues like Museum Boerhaave and participation in citizen-science platforms exemplified by projects linked to iNaturalist and Zooniverse. Educational resources support curricula used by institutes such as Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and international programs funded by Horizon 2020 and foundations like Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Organizational governance reflects models seen at Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and involves board oversight comparable to structures in Naturalis Biodiversity Center and Netherlands Institute of Ecology. Funding streams combine grants from Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, contracts with European Commission, service revenues from industrial partners such as DSM-Firmenich and philanthropic support from entities like Wellcome Trust and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Collaborative frameworks include memoranda of understanding with universities like Leiden University and research consortia involving European Molecular Biology Laboratory.

Contributions include taxonomic revisions cited in publications by Mycologia, discovery of bioactive compounds leading to collaborative patents with firms like Bayer, and datasets integrated into Global Biodiversity Information Facility and Index Fungorum. The institute and staff have received recognitions paralleling honors from Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and research prizes similar to awards granted by European Research Council and Royal Society. Collaborative achievements feature partnerships with Kew Gardens, Smithsonian Institution, and Harvard University that advanced fungal systematics, bioprospecting, and conservation policy.

Category:Fungal collections Category:Scientific organizations based in the Netherlands