Skryabin’s Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms (IBPM) inside the Federal Research Center Pushchino Scientific Center for Biological Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences (PSCBR RAS) houses the All-Russian Collection of Micro-organisms (VKM) department. VKM is the largest non-medical collection in Russia including over 20000 strains of archaea, bacteria, fungi and yeasts, both, identified and not-yet-identified, originating from various sources. Nearly 7500 strains are presented in the on-line Catalogue. The VKM activities are focused on: (i) collection, maintenance and supply of microorganisms; (ii) research in the field of microbial biodiversity and systematic; (iii) use of microorganisms in biotechnology- and ecology-related area; (iv) molecular and genomics approaches; and (v) taxonomy. Since 1987, VKM has had the International Depositary Authority (IDA) status from the World Intellectual Property Organisation, in the framework of international patent legislation (Budapest Treaty). In 1988-1990, VKM headed creation of joint catalogue for 31 microbial culture collections of USSR, Eastern Germany, Vietnam, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Mongolia. VKM is a member of ECCO and WFCC, was been involved in European projects GBRCN (2011-2012), BRIO (2011-2014) and MIRRI (2012-2015), participated in EOSC-Life project, conducting genomic research with WDCM GCM2.0.
