At half a million microorganisms, the Microbial Ark is one of the largest microbial collections in the southern hemisphere.
The Microbial Ark has been isolated from our unique resources library of over 25,000 ecological samples drawn primarily from continental Australia and Tasmania from soil, marine samples, plants, lichens and insects over the last 30 years.
The Microbial Ark provides a balanced range of those genera with a proven history of secondary metabolite production, together with the less abundant, but potentially exciting, “rare” genera. Over 250 distinct isolation strategies, including antibiotic regimens, media selection, incubation conditions and phage selection, have been employed to provide broad taxonomic diversity.
From this biodiverse collection, we target rare species and high-producing cultures to produce talented libraries of rare and novel metabolites.
Our proprietary technologies enable us to rapidly target and process large numbers of selected cultures in a discovery project.
As industries seek natural solutions for developing challenges in the realms of agriculture, human and animal health, food, cosmetic, reclamation and other industries, the relevance of the Microbial Ark has never been more pronounced,.