NBRC, a national biological resource centre of Japan

Abstract

As defined in the OECD report issued in 2001, biological resource centres (BRCs) are an essential part of the infrastructure underpinning life sciences and biotechnology. A wide variety of biological materials such as microbial cultures, biomass, DNA, etc are supplied by BRCs. The databases available from BRCs are not only for the sales of materials, but also for those containing scientific information catching up with other advanced bioinformatics. In addition to these scientific contents, BRCs are expected to operate in the management of intellectual properties and promotion of the government?s policy on biosafety, quarantine, etc.