The availability of standard biological material is a mandatory condition for life support of virological, bacteriological research, molecular genetic research, research in the direction of cellular biotechnology and genetic engineering – that is, biotechnology in the broadest sense of the word. The development of an actively functioning storage system for industrially promising samples of biological material ensures not only the uninterrupted operation of enterprises producing relevant products, but also serves as a basis for further improvement and development of biotechnologies, in particular, the production of veterinary immunobiological drugs.

It should be emphasized that in the veterinary medicine of Ukraine, the necessity of mandatory depositing of production, control and other strains of microorganisms, which are used in the manufacture and control of veterinary drugs, in the depository of the National Center for Veterinary Medicine of Ukraine is regulated by the Law of Ukraine “On Veterinary Medicine”. If a particular strain of a microorganism or other biological material is used or is planned for use in veterinary medicine or animal husbandry, it must be deposited in the depository of the National Center for Disease Control. According to the current requirements, the deposit procedure must precede the approval of the registration documentation for the biological product and its use. That is, in the registration file for the veterinary immunobiological preparation, the full name of the biological material is indicated with the registration number of the deposit.

The purpose of the work of the NCMS is: storage, maintenance in an active state (according to passport characteristics) and depositing of production, reference, and control strains of microorganisms, providing the necessary strains to enterprises of the biological industry of Ukraine. In addition, the entire volume of work related to the passporting of strains is carried out in the NCMS, and control over the conditions of storage and use of strains at enterprises, production laboratories, and other institutions subordinate to the State Department of Veterinary Medicine is carried out. Scientific and research work at the NCMS is aimed at optimizing existing and developing new methods of long-term storage of microorganisms, improving existing veterinary immunobiological drugs, and developing new technological solutions in the manufacture and development of new means of animal protection. Currently, the depository of the NCMS includes more than 800 strains of microorganisms, which are used in the production of animal protection products, diagnostics, means of standardization of diagnostic studies, etc.

Based on the presence of a collection of strains of microorganisms in the SSCIBSM, in previous years, a number of tools were developed for standardization and quality control of diagnostics and vaccines. These are, for example, a national standard sample of PPD-tuberculin for mammals, a reference vaccine against rabies, a set of test strains of microorganisms for evaluating the growth properties of nutrient media for bacteriological research, a set of test strains of microorganisms for evaluating the growth properties of nutrient media for the cultivation of mycoplasmas, a set of test strains microorganisms for listeria identification, optical bacterial turbidity standard, etc.

One of the promising areas of activity of the NCMS is the formation of a national collection of reference sera. The collection received international reference standards of sera for the causative agent of leukemia, brucellosis, rabies, infectious laryngotracheitis; ongoing work on the formation of standard serum panels; research work is being carried out on the production of reference sera for the causative agents of some infectious diseases of animals. The availability of the most complete collection of reference sera will allow an objective assessment of the quality of diagnostic test systems of various manufacturers, means of immunoprophylaxis of infectious diseases of animals and prevent the penetration of low-quality or falsified products into the market.

The priority task remains the replenishment of the collection of strains of microorganisms, primarily strains pathogenic for animals, standard strains to control the effectiveness of bacteriological research, as well as the formation of a collection of reference strains of microorganisms. The availability of a wide range of strains of microorganisms pathogenic for animals will create a real opportunity to solve a problem that is acutely faced by both manufacturers and developers of veterinary immunobiological preparations, namely, the provision of strains of microorganisms that are intended to control the effectiveness of animal protection products (i.e., “breakthrough strains “).

In the future, we consider it expedient to significantly expand the list of storage objects, in particular, to create depositories of animal cell cultures, hybridomas, other biological materials (perhaps – genetically engineered structures, plasmids, oncogenes, RNA and DNA eukaryotes, nucleotide sequences, etc.).

We see the further development of the activity of the NCMS in the implementation of the following strategic directions: production-experimental, informational-analytical, and consultative-methodical. Accordingly, the development of each direction requires the availability of a set of specific methodological tools. The primary goal of the production-experimental component in the work of the NCMS is theoretical substantiation, development and implementation of optimal methods of maintaining and storing strains in the collection; improvement of existing, development of new optimized methods of selection and identification criteria of microorganisms of various species; manufacturing and providing consumers with cultures of production and reference strains of microorganisms, main seed cultures of microorganisms, standard samples (national standards), etc.

The informational and analytical component of the activity will be aimed at working out the theoretical foundations of the work and ways of their practical implementation, and, in our opinion, it is extremely important, the informational support of the entire work of the NCMS. It is appropriate to include the work related to the exchange of experience and the introduction of advanced technologies into practice as part of the informational and analytical component of the activity of the NCMS. The purpose of this work is primarily to ensure contacts and exchange of experience between scientists working in various collections of strains of microorganisms in our country and other countries. For this purpose, based on the results of the analysis of the work of the collection, it is planned to hold seminars, which will highlight the data obtained regarding various methodological techniques of working with storage objects, the results of an in-depth study of the biological properties and individual characteristics of specific strains.

Currently, work with a collection of microorganisms requires both new methodological developments (for example, genetic characterization of collection and epizootic strains of pathogens, etc.), and radical organizational solutions. Their implementation will allow, according to the current level of knowledge, to ensure not only the needs of biological industry enterprises in production strains of microorganisms, but also to solve the problems of fundamental biological science.