About CPCC
The Canadian Phycological Culture Centre (CPCC) was formally established in 1987 as the University of Toronto Culture Collection of Algae and Cyanobacteria (UTCC) with funds awarded to Drs. Pamela Welbourn (Stokes) and John R. Coleman by the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities Excellence Fund. The CPCC functions as the national service collection of freshwater algal and cyanobacterial cultures in Canada. It is a member (#605) of the World Federation of Culture Collections (WFCC). The facility originally consolidated the private research collections of several scientists at the University of Toronto and York University (Brian Colman, Tom Hutchinson, Czesia Nalewajko and Pamela Welbourn (Stokes) as the core of the collection. As one of our goals is to encourage the use of strains native to Canada, many new isolates of this type have been added, particularly from areas of environmental concern such as the Great Lakes, acid-stressed lakes, metal-polluted and organically-polluted sites. The collection welcomes deposits of strains of algae and cyanobacteria, particularly if they are related to environmental problems, have been isolated from Canadian sites and used for published research.
The Director of the CPCC is Dr. Brian Colman (York University, Toronto, ON Canada). Dr. Kirsten Muller is the Associate Director at the University of Waterloo. We have an Advisory Committee that meets annually and consists of the directors and the following faculty members:
Dr. Helene Cyr (University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada)
Dr. George Espie (University of Toronto at Erindale, Mississauga, ON, Canada)
Dr. Stephanie Guildford (University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN, USA)
Dr. Johan Hellebust Professor Emeritus (University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada)
Dr. Andrea Kirkwood (University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, ON, Canada)
Dr. Czesia Nalewajko Professor Emerita (University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada)
Dr.Robert Sheath (California State University at San Marcos, CA, USA)
Dr. Ralph Smith (University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada)
Dr. Charles Trick (University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada)
Dr. Michael Twiss (Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, USA)
Dr. Susan Watson (National Water Research Institute, ON, Canada)
The staff consists of the Manager, Judy Acreman and the Technical Curator, Heather Roshon, who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the collection. Please see Contact Us for detailed contact information.
The CPCC is a phycological resource centre which has the following main functions:
- To isolate and culture algae and cyanobacteria of interest in ecological and biotechnological research. Isolates from stressed environments, e.g. low or high pH, high or low temperatures, polluted by heavy metals or other contaminants are of particular interest.
- To provide these cultures, related information and services to researchers in universities, government and industry.
- To serve as a depository for valuable cultures from other researchers. We encourage investigators to deposit their newly-isolated strains with the CPCC when they are ready to release the strain for distribution, thereby making them available to other scientists. Safe-Deposit on a confidential basis is also available for an annual fee (see Services ).
The objectives of the CPCC are to provide pure authenticated cultures of freshwater algae and cyanobacteria; to continue expanding the collection through isolations and soliciting deposits from other researchers; to develop new methods and media for culturing these organisms; to provide consulting services and to promote the use of algal strains native to Canada.
Approximately 500 isolates are currently maintained at CPCC. Most of the major algal groups are represented. The majority are freshwater algae and soil algae including chlorophytes, cryptomonads, chrysophytes, diatoms, euglenoids and rhodophytes. Cyanobacteria are represented by >100 isolates. There are also a few isolates of marine microalgae (e.g. Dunaliella tertiolecta and Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Chaetoceros muellerii) and of the aquatic macrophytes used in ecotoxicity testing, Lemna minor and Lemna gibba.