The UAMH Centre for Global Microfungal Biodiversity is a premier repository of biomedically and environmentally important fungi and bacteria, including emerging pathogens, opportunists, allergenic and toxigenic species. The public biobank comprises nearly 12,000 living biospecimens representing over 3,200 species. It is the largest and most important research archive of public-health-relevant microfungi in the western hemisphere and one of only two top-level biobanks of these organisms in the world. The majority of the strains are uniquely held in UAMH and not replicated elsewhere. The biobank continues to be a critical resource to Canadian scientists for research, manufacturing, and diagnostic testing. The UAMH microbial biobank is affiliated with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.

Our ongoing struggle to maintain sufficient funding to keep the biobank in Canada was recently profiled by CBC News. Your generous support will help ensure a stable future for this irreplaceable Canadian resource.

Origins of UAMH strains

Each dot on this map indicates the collection location of one or multiple strains available in the UAMH biobank. View the interactive map.