The impact of OECD best practice on the validation of cryopreservation techniques for microorganisms.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Biological Resource Centre Initiative (BRC) was established after the 1998 Working Party on Biotechnology endorsed a proposal by Japan to examine support for Biological Resource Centres (BRCs) as a key element of the scientific and technological infrastructure for the life sciences and biotechnology. As part of this Best Practice Guidelines for the operation of Biological Resource Centres (BRCs) were published. Cryopreservation is widely used in BRC's and is seen as the method of choice for the preservation of most organism groups. This paper reviews the developments of BRC standards, how they are applied, current practices in cryopreservation and methods for validating the success of cryopreservation methodology.