1. Agreement for distribution
2. Ordering strains
3. Price and payment
4. Special notes regarding distribution
5. Distribution to NIES researchers
1. Agreement for distribution
The Microbial Culture Collection at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES-Collection) will distribute strains to users who agree to the following conditions:
(1) The strains (including DNA replicates and derivatives from the strains) that are distributed from the NIES-Collection shall be available for education, research, tests, and other special purposes permitted by NIES, as well as for purposes in which public safety must be ensured. The strains are not intended to apply directly to humans. If the strains are toxic, the user hereby acknowledges and accepts the risks posed by toxic strains and shall use the strains in compliance with domestic and foreign laws, regulations, and guidelines. The user shall store and discard the strains appropriately. Even if “toxic” is not specified in the strain list, the user hereby acknowledges and accepts the potential risks of the strains and shall use the strains in compliance with domestic and foreign laws, regulations, and guidelines.
(2) The user shall be requested to submit the application form personally.
(3) The user shall not acquire any intellectual property rights by the purchase of the strain.
(4) The user shall provide written notice to the NIES when the purpose has changed considerably from the purpose that was stated at the time of submission.
(5) The user shall not distribute the strains, or their replicates and derivatives to any third party.
(6) The user shall use the NIES strain number (e.g., NIES-125) when he/she uses a NIES strain in a paper that is subsequently published, and shall send two copies of the reprint(s) or photocopies thereof to the NIES-Collection.
(7) When the use of the strain violates another person’s rights, the user shall bear responsibility for this, and shall deal with the matter on his/her own.
(8) The user shall acknowledge the possibility that the strain is deficient and harmful, and inadequate for the user’s aim. Thus, if the user suffers any loss by the strain, he/she shall bear responsibility for this and shall deal with the matter on his/her own.
(9) The user shall submit the Strain Receipt Form ( PDF / Word )within 1 month of the date of receipt of the strain. The user may request that the strain be sent again without charge if the strain does not show good growth during this warranty period. The NIES-Collection shall not bear any responsibility for mistakes by the user.
2. Ordering strains
2.1. Ordering culture strains
| Online order |
| 1. Serch and order the strain(s) | PageTop | |
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| 1.1 | Search the strain(s) from [Strain list - Alphabetical index-], [Strain list - Systematic index-], and [Search strain data], mark the strain(s) you need, and click Add to Cart button. |
| 1.2 | When you order from the Strain Data page, click Add to Cart button. |
| 2. Check the view cart of your order | PageTop | |
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| 2.1 | Select [Your category] and [Affiliation category] |
| 2.2 | Confirm strain no., scientific name, remarks, etc. |
| 2.3 | Enter the object of the use (please clearly state your purpose of use, this is especially important for international orders to avoid quarantine stop of the parcel), and click continue button. |
| 3. Enter your information to ‘Strain ordering form’ | PageTop | |
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Necessary to enter.
| 4. Check the ‘Ordering form and agreement for distribution’ | PageTop | |
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| 4.1 | Check ‘Your order’ and ‘Your registration information’ |
| 4.2 | When you want to change ‘Your registration information’, click Correction of your information button. |
| 4.3 | Please read ‘Agreement for distribution.’ The NIES-Collection will distribute strains to users who agree to these conditions. |
| 4.4 | Click Submit ordering form button. Your order will be completed. Confirmation e-mail from the NIES-Collection will be sent to your registered e-mail address. |
| 5. Print ‘Ordering form and agreement for distribution’ and send by air-mail two original doccuments properly signed | PageTop | |
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| Print two copies of the ‘Ordering form and agreement for distribution’ by clicking Print this
page button, sign and send by air-mail the two original documents
to the address below. If you are a student / part-timer, the NIES-Collection requests a signature of your supervisor / employer. Please note that we can ship the strain(s) only after we receive two original copies (with the user’s signature and date) of the “Ordering form and agreement for distribution”. |
| Order by regular mail |
We will accept your order by regular mail (air-mail, FedEex…). Requests to the NIES-Collection for strains shall be made by completing the “Strain Ordering and Agreement Form”, and by sending two original copies via air-mail to the following address. After being signed by the administrator at the NIES, one copy of the “Strain Ordering and Agreement Form” will be sent back to the user. If the user is a student or a part-time employee, the documents should be named and signed by his/her supervisor or employer. Requests by e-mail and fax and online orders are available, but in any requests to the NIES-Collection for strains two original copies of the “Strain Ordering and Agreement Form” with the user’s signature (and supervisor’s/employer’s signature, if needed) and date are necessary. We will ship the strain only after reception of the two signed original copies of the “Strain Ordering and Agreement Form” sent by air-mail.
| Address : | Microbial Culture Collection, |
| Biodiversity Resource Conservation Section, Center for Environmental Biology and Ecosystem Studies, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, JAPAN |
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| Tel： +81-29-850-2556 Fax： +81-29-850-2587  |
2.2. Receipt of the strain
Within 1 month of the strain reception, the user is asked to complete and return to the NIES-Collection the “Strain Receipt Form” ( PDF / Word ) .
3. Price and payment
3.1. Price
| Universities, public institutions | Companies, commercial organizations | |
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| About 10 mL aliquot of culture strain |
6,300 JPY | 10,500 JPY |
The sales tax (5%) is included to the indicated prices above.
Shipping fee will be charged in addition to the price of the strain. For your convenience and according to your area,
check the table for an estimation of the approximate shipping fee for one strain ordered.
If you order corresponds to more than one tube, the shipping fee will change with the final weight.
Note that the exact shipping fee is quoted in the invoice as well as the strain fee.
Shipping fee for one strain
| Asia | Oceania. North America. Central America. The Middle East |
Europe | South America. Africa |
|---|---|---|---|
| 858 JPY | 1,143 JPY | 1,429 JPY | 1,619 JPY |
Shipping fee for one strain (During hot season, when refrigerant is needed)
| Asia | Oceania. North America. Central America. The Middle East |
Europe | South America. Africa |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,048 JPY | 1,429 JPY | 1,715 JPY | 2,000 JPY |
Packages are usually send by EMS. However under a specific request, we can send it by express service such as FedEx. In such a case, customers are asked to send us their FedEx account identification number.
The NIES-Collection has a special agreement for educational purpose, if you are under this case, please, contact the staff of the NIES-Collection .
3.2. For customers from the US
The NIES-Microbial Culture Collection being a national institution of Japan does not fall under the requirement to fill the form W-8 (Certificate of Foreign status of beneficial owner for United States Tax Withholding). Please, make sure with your own administration that the payment procedure can be done without the form W-8.
3.3. Payment
In case of international order, the invoice with the payment details is included inside the package together with the strain.
Note that if your order is send in several parts, this invoice will be placed in the last parcel only.
Please, make sure to do the payment before the due date by bank transfer according to the invoice bank references.
Bank transfer fee is under your charge.
4. Special notes regarding distribution
4.1. Case of strains designated as "Difficult to transport"
Some strains, such as dinoflagellates or raphidophytes, are fragile and can die easily during transportation. These types of strains are indicated as “Difficult to transport”in the Remarks column of the list of strains. For international order of these strains, we will use courier services such as FedEx. However, we cannot guaranty the good state of the strains at reception and may need to proceed to several sending.
4.2. "Cryopreserved" strains
Most of the cyanobacterial strains and some of the green and red algal strains are preserved only in the vapor phase of liquid nitrogen
(not anymore in normal full growth cultures). These cryopreserved strains are indicated in the Remarks column of the list of strains.
Cryopreservation is necessary for long-term preservation of these strains in culture collections, preventing contamination during repetitive
transfer and genetic changes by mutation (Day & DeVille, 1995). Now, the NIES-Collection holds ca. 740 cryopreserved strains.
When cryopreserved strains are ordered for distribution, the NIES-Collection first bring back the culture to full growth state.
For this, the cryopreserved strain is thawed, inoculated into fresh medium and incubated in the optimal conditions for growth
till the culture is sufficiently dense and healthy. As a result, a longer delay is necessary to send “cryopreserved strains”.
We will keep informing the user of the delay for sending according to each order.
= REFERENCE =
Day, J. G. & DeVille, M. M. 1995 Cryopreservation of algae (Chapter 9), In Day
J.G. & McLellan M.R. (eds.), Methods in Molecular Biology Vol. 38, Cryopreservation
and Freeze-Drying Protocols, p.81-89, Humana Press, Totowa, USA.
4.3. Toxic strains
Strains that have been reported to produce toxic substance are indicated as “toxic” in the list of strains. Users who order these strains must confirm and appreciate its implications before use of the strain, even if the user’s purpose is not relevant to the strain’s toxic characteristics.
4.4. Distribution of strains shared with TISTR
We distribute those strains shared with TISTR (Microbiological Resource Centre, Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research) for educational and research purposes only. For these strains, TISTR strain numbers are also indicated in the “Other collection strain no.” in the list of strains
4.5. Distribution of strains collected outside Japan since 1993
Distribution of some strains collected and isolated outside Japan since 1993 is now suspended pursuant to the Convention on Biological Diversity, although the strain data are available in the catalog. Please contact the staff of the NIES-Collection if you wish to request these strains.
5. Distribution to NIES researchers
Strains are available to NIES researchers without charge. Please complete two original copies “Strain Ordering and Agreement Form” and send it via in-house mail or pass it on to the staff directly. Online ordering is also available. The “Strain Ordering and Agreement Form” is also required for online orders by NIES researchers.
