ATCC: American Type Culture Collection Guide

ATCC (the American Type Culture Collection) is a global non-profit biological resource center and standards organization that preserves, authenticates, and distributes reference microbial strains, cell lines, viruses, and genomic materials to the biomedical research community. Founded in 1925, ATCC provides the standardized biological biological controls essential for experimental reproducibility across academic research, pharmaceutical development, and clinical diagnostics.

In life science and biomedical engineering investigations, using unverified or cross-contaminated biological materials compromises experimental validity and wastes substantial research funding. To address this risk, researchers rely on authenticated bioresources governed by rigorous international standards, including the ANSI/ATCC ASN-0002 standard for cell line authentication. Alongside specialized reagent hubs like the Addgene plasmid repository, ATCC serves as a foundational pillar of modern laboratory infrastructure and biological material sharing under institutional frameworks such as the NIH Resource Sharing Plan.

What it is

The American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) is an international bioresource center dedicated to acquiring, authenticating, preserving, and distributing biological reference materials. Unlike commercial reagent vendors that manufacture synthetic chemicals or single-use kits, ATCC maintains a living repository of primary biological specimens, including standard bacteria, fungi, yeast, protozoa, mammalian cell lines, and viral stocks.

Every strain or cell line archived at ATCC is assigned a standardized catalog number that functions as a permanent biological identifier across the scientific literature. For example, reference mammalian hosts such as HEK-293 (ATCC CRL-1573) and quality control bacteria cultured in media like tryptic soy broth carry distinct accession numbers that guarantee traceability back to a characterized seed stock.

Who runs it and what it covers

ATCC is operated as a private, non-profit 501(c)(3) scientific organization headquartered at 10801 University Boulevard, Manassas, Virginia 20110, USA, near Washington, D.C., with technical centers of excellence in Maryland. Established in 1925 by a committee of bacteriologists from scientific societies, the institution has evolved into an accredited global standards organization.

ATCC operates under comprehensive international quality management frameworks, holding certification under ISO 9001 and formal accreditations under ISO/IEC 17025 (competence of testing and calibration laboratories), ISO 17034 (competence of reference material producers), and ISO 20387 (biobanking general requirements). The repository catalog spans multiple biological domains:

• Microbiology: Thousands of authenticated type strains and clinical isolates of bacteria, archaea, fungi, yeasts, and protozoans utilized in antimicrobial susceptibility testing, environmental monitoring, and taxonomic studies.
• Cell Biology: Human and animal primary cells, continuous cell lines, stem cells, and hybridomas, fully authenticated using Short Tandem Repeat (STR) profiling and mycoplasma screening.
• Virology: Human and animal viruses, bacteriophages, and viral nucleic acids representing respiratory, enteric, and emerging infectious agents.
• Molecular Reference Materials: Whole-genome sequenced genomic DNA, synthetic quantitative RNA/DNA standards, and recombinant microbial controls for diagnostic assay validation.

How to search or use it

Procuring biological strains from ATCC requires navigating established ordering, compliance, and material handling workflows. The operational steps are:

1. Search the ATCC Online Catalog: Access atcc.org and use the primary search bar or the ATCC Genome Portal to locate specific organisms by scientific taxon name, common name, strain designation, clinical isolate source, or ATCC item number.
2. Review the Product Sheet and Biosafety Level: Inspect the detailed Product Sheet for your target item to confirm its Biosafety Level (BSL-1, BSL-2, or BSL-3), growth requirements, propagation medium, optimal incubation temperature, and atmospheric conditions (aerobic vs anaerobic).
3. Establish and Verify an Organizational Account: First-time customers must register through the account management portal using an official institutional email. ATCC strictly restricts biological shipments to verified academic, clinical, governmental, or industrial laboratories; materials are never delivered to residential addresses.
4. Complete Regulatory Permits and Compliance Vetting: Certain animal pathogens, plant pests, or human pathogens require explicit regulatory permits before release, including USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) permits or CDC import permits. Order placement requires submitting these documentation files for compliance review.
5. Execute the ATCC Material Transfer Agreement (MTA): All material orders are legally bound by the ATCC Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) or standard Terms and Conditions of Sale. The MTA governs intellectual property, prohibits unauthorized redistribution or resale, and limits standard distributions to research use.
6. Order Processing and Expedited Cold-Chain Dispatch: Once account verification, permit approvals, and payment (credit card or institutional purchase order) are cleared, ATCC dispatches the specimens. Lyophilized (freeze-dried) ampoules ship under ambient or chilled conditions, while cryopreserved cell lines and viral suspensions ship in liquid nitrogen dry shippers or on dry ice.
7. Receipt, Thawing, and Subculture: Upon delivery, immediately process specimens according to the strain-specific product instructions. For cryopreserved cell lines, rapid thawing at 37 °C and dilution into pre-warmed culture media minimizes dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) cytotoxicity. For lyophilized microbial pellets, rehydrate with the recommended broth medium and incubate under specified growth conditions.

Strengths and limits

Working with ATCC biological resources provides distinct experimental assurances while imposing specific regulatory and cost constraints that researchers should evaluate.

Strengths

• Uncompromising Biological Authentication: ATCC validates cultures using STR profiling, whole-genome sequencing (WGS), droplet digital PCR (ddPCR), and biochemical phenotyping, minimizing the risks of cross-contamination and cell line misidentification.
• Regulatory and Quality Alignment: Reference materials are cited as authoritative standards by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), US Pharmacopeia (USP), and International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
• Comprehensive Documentation: Strains are accompanied by downloadable Certificates of Analysis (CoA), Certificates of Origin, and Safety Data Sheets (SDS) matching specific lot numbers.

Limits

• Strict Customer Vetting Requirements: New account setup and biosafety verification can take several days to weeks, requiring institutional administrative sign-offs before an initial order can be fulfilled.
• Non-Redistribution Legal Clauses: The ATCC Material Transfer Agreement strictly prohibits transferring materials, derivatives, or progeny to third-party investigators outside the purchasing institution without explicit authorization.
• Cost Profile: As an accredited standards producer maintaining extensive cryogenic infrastructure, ATCC catalog items carry higher acquisition costs than peer-to-peer plasmid repositories or unauthenticated departmental cultures.

Alternatives

When specific isolates are unlisted or international shipping constraints require regional sourcing, investigators turn to alternative biological resource centers and public strain depositories.

Culture Collection / Repository	Operating Institution & Region	Primary Scope & Specialization	Accreditation & Governance	Key Differentiator / Best For
ATCC	Non-profit Bioresource Center (Manassas, VA, USA)	Mammalian cell lines, bacteria, viruses, fungi, and genomic standards	ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 17025, ISO 17034, ISO 20387	Gold-standard clinical, pharmaceutical, and diagnostic reference strains and authenticated cells
DSMZ (German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures)	Leibniz Institute (Braunschweig, Germany)	Bacterial strains, plant viruses, human and animal cell lines, bacteriophages	ISO 9001 certified, OECD best practice guidelines	Comprehensive European biodiversity repository with extensive bacterial taxonomy and plant virus stocks
ECACC (European Collection of Authenticated Cell Cultures)	UK Health Security Agency (Porton Down, UK)	Authentic human and animal cell lines, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)	ISO 9001, UKAS accredited testing laboratory	European cell biology research and specialized cell line authentication services
BEI Resources	Managed by ATCC under NIAID/NIH contract (USA)	Emerging infectious disease agents, pathogens, vectors, and biodefense reagents	Federal biosafety and NIAID research standards	Free or cost-subsidized distribution of infectious disease materials to qualified global researchers
Addgene	Non-profit 501(c)(3) (Watertown, MA, USA)	Recombinant plasmids, viral vector packaging constructs, and pooled CRISPR libraries	Centralized NGS sequence verification, electronic UBMTA	Academic molecular cloning tools and peer-to-peer plasmid sharing (does not archive wild-type strains)

Frequently asked questions

What does ATCC stand for?

ATCC stands for the American Type Culture Collection. While originally founded in 1925 as a physical archive for bacterial type specimens, the organization today operates broadly as a global non-profit bioresource center and biological standards producer encompassing cell biology, virology, and molecular diagnostics.

What kind of company is ATCC?

ATCC is a private, non-profit 501(c)(3) scientific research and standards organization. It is not a commercial for-profit corporation, nor is it a direct agency of the federal government. It operates on a self-funding model through product sales, reference material production, and federal service contracts (such as operating BEI Resources for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases).

Where is ATCC located?

ATCC headquarters and primary bioproduction operations are located at 10801 University Boulevard, Manassas, Virginia 20110, USA. Research and development facilities and specialized technology centers are situated in Gaithersburg and Germantown, Maryland.

What does ATCC do?

ATCC collects, authenticates, cryopreserves, and distributes biological specimens—including cell lines, bacteria, fungi, viruses, and nucleic acids—to scientific researchers around the globe. It also establishes standardized authentication protocols (such as ANSI/ATCC ASN-0002 for human cell line STR profiling) and produces ISO-accredited reference materials cited in regulatory drug and diagnostic testing standards.

What is ATCC 25923?

ATCC 25923 is a specific catalog designation for Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus Rosenbach (strain Seattle 1945), a whole-genome sequenced clinical isolate. It is recognized globally as the gold-standard quality control reference strain for antimicrobial disk susceptibility tests (Kirby-Bauer) and dilution testing, as specified in Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI M2, CLSI M7, CLSI M100) and ISO guidelines.

How do I order from ATCC?

To order from ATCC, investigators must create an account at atcc.org using their institutional credentials. New accounts undergo facility verification to confirm appropriate biosafety containment. Once verified, researchers add products to the online cart, submit required regulatory permits (such as USDA or CDC approvals for regulated agents), agree to the ATCC Material Transfer Agreement (MTA), and complete payment via credit card or institutional purchase order.

How do I cite ATCC in my research?

In academic manuscripts, investigators should cite the repository name, organism name, and unique ATCC catalog number in the Materials and Methods section. For example: “Assays were performed using Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus Rosenbach (ATCC 25923) obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (Manassas, VA).” For mammalian cell lines, include the relevant Research Resource Identifier (RRID) and mention that authentication was verified using STR profiling.

What does ATCC mean in aviation?

In aviation, ATCC stands for Air Traffic Control Center (or Air Traffic Control Clearance), which manages aircraft flight paths within designated airspace sectors. This aviation operational acronym is entirely unrelated to the American Type Culture Collection in biological and biomedical research.

Sources

• ATCC. (2026). About ATCC: Our Mission and Quality Standards. American Type Culture Collection, Manassas, VA. https://www.atcc.org/about-us (Read 2026-11-07).
• ATCC. (2026). Order Support, Material Transfer Agreements, and Account Setup. American Type Culture Collection, Manassas, VA. https://www.atcc.org/support/order-support (Read 2026-11-07).
• ATCC. (2026). Product Sheet: Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus Rosenbach (ATCC 25923). American Type Culture Collection, Manassas, VA. https://www.atcc.org/products/25923 (Read 2026-11-07).
• Reid, Y., et al. (2016). Standards for Cell Line Authentication and Beyond. PLoS Biology, 14(6), e1002476. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002476 (Read 2026-11-07).