Jakarta, September 2025 – Few people realize that microorganisms—tiny beings invisible to the naked eye—hold enormous potential for shaping the future of food, health, and industry. Behind this unseen world lies a vital pillar that safeguards research and innovation: the microbial culture collection. Microorganisms serve as sources of amino acids, proteins, enzymes, and essential compounds that drive fermentation processes. From daily nutrition to life-saving medicines, their role is both vast and invaluable.
What Is a Culture Collection?
A culture collection is like a “living library”, a safe and standardized repository of thousands of microbial strains—bacteria, fungi, and yeasts—carefully preserved for the long term. The purpose goes beyond mere preservation; it ensures that these microbes can be reused for research, education, and industry whenever needed.
Why Does It Matter?
- Supporting Research and Education
With culture collections, microbial research can be repeated, verified, and benchmarked to international standards. Students and scientists gain authentic access to genetic resources for studies in biotechnology, genetics, and microbial ecology. - Driving Innovation for Industry
Many products that touch our daily lives are born from microbes in culture collections: antibiotics, enzymes, amino acids, and high-performing strains for fermentation. They are essential to providing biotechnology solutions that are efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly. - Conserving Biodiversity
Indonesia is one of the world’s megadiverse countries. Culture collections help protect rare and endangered microbial strains from extinction, while also supporting biodiversity research for food security, health, and environmental sustainability.
UNJCC: Safeguarding Microbes, Safeguarding the Future
Since 2014, Universitas Negeri Jakarta has developed its own microbial culture collection system through UNJ Culture Collection (UNJCC). What began with student projects and undergraduate research has now expanded into a global network, linked to the World Data Centre for Microorganisms (WDCM) and the ASEAN Network for Microbial Utilization (ANMicro). The UNJ Culture Collection (UNJCC) has made significant contributions in maintaining potential collaborations by serving and preserving microbial resources. We employ a range of preservation methods, including freeze-drying, liquid drying, and freezing, to ensure the long-term viability and integrity of valuable microbial strains. These approaches safeguard your potential microbes for future research, education, and industrial applications. The role of UNJCC is closely aligned with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2, 3, 9, 12, 15, and 17, supporting food security, health, innovation, sustainable production, biodiversity conservation, and global partnerships.
An Investment for the Nation
A culture collection is not just a laboratory facility. It is a long-term investment for the nation, protecting valuable genetic resources, opening pathways to future bioindustries, and strengthening both food and health security.
Looking ahead, culture collections will become even more strategic in addressing global challenges: climate change, food crises, and the urgent need for bioenergy. To safeguard culture collections is to safeguard the future of science, industry, and life itself.
Noted by: Dalia Sukmawati
