About the Arbovirus Reference Collection (ARC)

Mission

CDC’s ARC, housed within the Arboviral Diseases Branch (ADB) at the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases (DVBD; see photo), provides reagents to public health laboratories for arbovirus diagnostics for which no commercial assays are available. The collection also serves as an arbovirus repository for reference strains.

The ARC houses reference quantities of reagents and reference viruses that can be distributed to research and commercial laboratories.
As analyte-specific reagents or validated assays become available commercially, distribution of reagents from the ARC is discontinued to preserve reference stocks.
The ARC has limited capacity and cannot support large-scale testing for research projects or routine diagnostics.

The ARC is a key element of CDC’s activities as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Arthropod-Borne Viruses Reference and Research.

History

Officially established in 1958 in Atlanta, Georgia
Relocated to what is now DVBD in Fort Collins, Colorado in 1973
In 2004, accepted the remaining Yale Arbovirus Research Unit (YARU) collection (see photo)
Received collections from retiring or retired CDC researchers, 2008-2015
Receive individual deposits on an ongoing basis

Contributing Staff

Amy Lambert – Team Lead
Eric Mossel – Sub-team Lead
Brandy Russell – ARC Curator
Christin Goodman – Reagent Production Optimization
Trudy Chambers – Reagent Production
Holly Hughes – Full Genome Sequencing

The Division of Vector-Borne Diseases in Fort Collins, Colorado. Credit: CDC

We Need Your Specimens to Improve Public Health

We’d like to collaborate with you! You can support public health by depositing your isolates in CDC’s Arbovirus Reference Collection (ARC). The ARC offers long-term curation, maintenance, and distribution of valuable isolates. Contact the ARC staff about depositing your isolates for long-term curation, maintenance, and distribution.

Questions about ARC? Send an email to: reagents2@cdc.gov
- Other questions? Contact CDC-INFO.
Ready to submit an isolate? Complete the ARC Submission Form [PDF – 3 pages] and the Simple Letter Agreement [PDF – 5 pages]. Then email the form and the letter to reagents2@cdc.gov.

If you need reagents, visit our Arboviral Reagent Ordering System.

Yale Arbovirus Research Unit collection housed at DVBD. Credit: CDC