Congratulation, MIRRI-BE! The BCCM celebrates 15 Years as a consortium of 7 collections

To mark the occasion, colleagues from BCCM/ULC gathered for a festive celebration.

 

2026 marks a special milestone for BCCM/ULC, BCCM/DCG and BCCM/ITM, which are celebrating 15 years as part of the Belgian Coordinated Collections of Microorganisms (BCCM), a consortium that forms the Belgian Node of MIRRI-ERIC.  

Although the BCCM consortium itself celebrated its 40^th anniversary in 2023, not all collections were part of the consortium from 1983 on. In 2006, an open call was launched to enlarge the patrimony and broaden the scope of the BCCM consortium by linking additional collections of interesting organism types present in Belgian research laboratories.  After some preparatory years, BCCM/ULC (cyanobacteria), BCCM/DCG (diatoms) and BCCM/ITM (mycobacteria) officially joined the BCCM consortium.

Since joining BCCM in 2011, these three collections have contributed to the network's mission of preserving, characterising, and providing access to high-quality biological resources for research, innovation and biotechnology.

This present moment provides an opportunity to look back on 15 years of scientific excellence, collaboration and service to the research community, while recognising the people who have contributed to this success.

This anniversary is also a moment to thank the collection's staff, depositors, users and partners whose expertise, trust and commitment have helped shape the collections over the years. A special acknowledgement goes to the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO) for its continued support of the BCCM programme.

We look forward to many more years of supporting science, innovation and biodiversity preservation within the MIRRI community.

Haifaa, Maria, Annick, Guillaume, Manu and Dail celebrating the 15^th anniversary of the BCCM/ULC collection of cyanobacteria.

This text was prepared in collaboration with Vincent Van de Perre and Virginie Storms.