About the Arbovirus Reference Collection (ARC)

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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
CDC campus in Fort Collins, CO

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.

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

A tray full of vials

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