Our history
The Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures was founded in 1969 as the national centre for culture collection in Göttingen, Germany. It was originally part of the Gesellschaft für Strahlenforschung (GSF) and was later moved to Braunschweig to become an independent institution.
| 1969 | foundation of a national culture collection, supported by external grants. Decentralized organization with headquarter in Göttingen |
| 1971 | shortly after foundation, 235 bacterial cultures are sold to external scientists |
| 1972 | the first patent strain is included in the closed collection |
| 1973 | official name "Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen (DSM)" |
| 1974 | recognition as official patent deposit by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office |
| 1976 | DSM becomes an independent collection at the Institute of Microbiology in Göttingen; transfer of 1,200 phytopathogenic fungi from the Biologische Bundesanstalt Berlin-Dahlem to Göttingen |
| 1979 | DSM is outsourced from the Gesellschaft für Strahlenforschung and transfered to the Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung (GBF) in Braunschweig; head of the institute is Dr. Dieter Claus |
| 1981 | recognition as International Depositary Authority (IDA) for patent purposes according to the Budapest Treaty |
| 1987 | unification of all German collections in Braunschweig at the Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung mBH; establishment of the new collections of plant cell lines as well as human and animal cell lines |
| 1988 | renaming to "Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen"; legally independent body established as a nonprofit accepted private limited company (GmbH) |
| 1990 | uptake of the plant virus collection of Prof. Dr. Rudolf Bercks (Braunschweig) |
| 1992 | IMET Kulturensammlung des Zentralinstituts für Mikrobiologie und experimentelle Therapie (ZIMET) in Jena becomes a temporary branch office of the DSMZ; beginning of the transfer of IMET patent strains and other selected strains to Braunschweig |
| 1993 | appointment of Prof. Dr. Erko Stackebrandt as Scientific Director (1993-2010) |
| 1996 | DSMZ becomes member of the Leibniz Association |
| 2004 | establishment of quality management according to ISO 9001:2000 |
| 2010 | appointment of Prof. Dr. Jörg Overmann as Scientific Director; foundation of the fifth department Microbial Ecology and Biodiversity Research |
| 2011 | renaming in Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH; establishment of a bioinformatic unit and high-throughput sequencing center |
| 2012 | launch of the phenotypic database BacDive |
| 2012-2014 | establishment of three independent junior research groups: Microbial Cell Biology, Single Cell Genomics and Molecular Tumor Research |
| 2014 | Prof. Dr. Ulrich Nübel joins DSMZ as head of the research unit Microbial Genome Research; the DSMZ main building is increased by one floor |
| 2015 | groundbreaking ceremony at the Science Campus Braunschweig-Süd for the "Zentrum für Wirkstoff- und Funktionelle Genomforschung", jointly set up with the Helmholtzzentrum für Infektionsforschung and the TU Braunschweig |
| 2016 | establishment of a new collection department Bioresources for Bioeconomy and Health Research |
| 2017 | Prof. Dr. Michael Pester joins DSMZ as head of the department Microorganisms; establishment of three independent junior research groups: Bacterial Metabolomics, Microbial Biotechnology, VirusInteract |
| 2018 | first European Registered Collection; implementation of a dual management with Prof. Dr. Jörg Overmann as Scientific Director and Bettina Fischer as Administrative Director; recertification according to ISO 9001:2015; accreditation according to ISO 17034:2017 |
| 2019 | 50th anniversary of DSMZ in Braunschweig, Germany; Prof. Dr. Yvonne Mast joins DSMZ as head of the department Bioresources for Bioeconomy and Health Research |
| 2020 | move of the department Bioresources for Bioeconomy and Health Research into the new "Zentrum für Wirkstoff- und Funktionelle Genomforschung" on the Science Campus Braunschweig-Süd. Appointment of Prof. Dr. Laura Steenpaß as head of the department Human and Animal Cell Lines. PD Dr. Meina Neumann-Schaal takes over the Services Department. Successful evaluation by the Senate of the Leibniz Association. |
| 2021 | Launch of the DFG-funded National Research Data Infrastructure NFDI4Microbiota; co-authoring of the position paper on biodiversity conservation through OpenDSI within the Leibniz Research Network Biodiversity |