Why it’s important
The national parks are host to some of the harshest habitats on Earth. Researchers often explore these extreme environments for the myriad microorganisms—known as extremophiles—that are able to flourish in conditions considered hostile or lethal for most lifeforms. Research on these incredible organisms has provided valuable insight into the origins of life.How we help
The National Park Service (NPS) issues permits to qualified researchers for scientific and educational purposes. Such permits to collect and study microbial specimens may provide for deposit of these NPS specimens and derivative material into the US National Park Service Special Collection at ATCC under a partnership agreement between the NPS and ATCC. Such deposits not only satisfy scientific publication requirements but also make the unique materials available to the global life science community.
This growing special collection comprises over 100 bacterial, fungal, and protozoan species and includes a variety of thermophilic, alkaliphilic, and acidophilic strains. These microorganisms provide scientists with a fascinating study of microbial ecology and evolution.
Learn how this special collection can benefit your research and lead to innovations in biomedical research and industrial processes.
Anne McCormack, BA
Digital Marketing Specialist, ATCC
Anne is a Digital Marketing Specialist at ATCC. She is editor of ATCC's Credible Conversations blog. She works collaboratively with scientists at ATCC to share innovation and lively topics of interest with the ATCC audience. Anne has over 20 years experience writing and editing science articles for print publications such as New Technology Week, Manufacturing and Technology News, and for websites including AOL and the National Geographic Society.
Cara Wilder, PhD, ELS
Senior Scientific Writer, ATCC
Dr. Wilder is a Senior Scientific Writer at ATCC. She has a PhD in Microbiology with background experience working with several pathogenic bacterial species in both in vitro and in vivo environments. Dr. Wilder is the author of numerous publications on varying topics of scientific relevance, including quality control, microbial contamination, assay development, proficiency testing, and multidrug resistance.
Look deeper into our collection
US National Park Service Special Collection
The US National Park Service Special Collection offers scientists a diverse group of microbial specimens—including unique microorganisms known as extremophiles, which can be used in a variety of applications.
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Protistology
The ATCC Protistology collection provides researchers with the only general service collection of taxonomically diverse living stock protists in the United States and the only large service repository of parasitic protozoa in the world.
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