Canadian Phycological Culture Centre

The Canadian Phycological Culture Centre (CPCC) at the University of Waterloo was formerly known as the University of Toronto Culture Collection of Algae and Cyanobacteria (UTCC). As Canada's national service collection, the centre maintains around 400 strains of microalgae, cyanobacteria, and Lemna spp. (common duckweed).

Our customers use algae, cyanobacteria, and duckweed for many different reasons, including as a food source for invertebrates, ecotoxicity testing, and research into biofuels, toxins, and algal physiology in extreme environments.

Fee-based services include the provision of living cultures and culture medium, training in algal culturing techniques, safe-deposit of research strains, and consultation.

The collection was founded in 1987 and since then has provided research quality cultures and related services to over 1500 users in educational institutions, government and commercial laboratories in 35 countries. In August 2008, the facility moved to the Department of Biology at the University of Waterloo from its former location at University of Toronto. Two University of Waterloo Faculty members, Drs. Kirsten Müller (Biology) and Monica Emelko (Civil & Environmental Engineering), are co-directors for the CPCC. The Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, and Dr. Müller have generously provided space and administrative support for the facility.