What to know
- CDC’s Arbovirus Reference Collection is housed within the Arboviral Diseases Branch at the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases.
- ARC 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.
Mission
CDC’s Arbovirus Reference Collection (ARC) has a specific mission:
- 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.
Donate specimens to improve public health
Our team would 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? Download and complete the ARC Submission Form and the Simple Letter Agreement. Then email the form and the letter to reagents2@cdc.gov.
Reagents
If you need reagents, visit our Arboviral Reagent Ordering System. Only U.S. public health laboratories are granted access to the ordering system.
History
- 1958: Established in Atlanta, Georgia
- 1973: Relocated to what is now DVBD in Fort Collins, Colorado
- 2004: Accepted the remaining Yale Arbovirus Research Unit collection
- 2008–2015: Received additional collections from retiring or retired CDC researchers
- Present: Regularly receives individual deposits