The University of Duisburg-Essen has officially accepted legal responsibility for the maintenance and future development of the CCAC (Culture Collection of Algae at the University of Cologne), which has changed its name to "Central Collection of Algal Cultures (CCAC)". The transfer of the collection from Cologne to Essen took place in November 2019

The foundations of our algal culture collection were laid in 1974 in Hamburg, when the first attempts to isolate single cells from a natural water sample led to the successful growth of clonal cultures of algae. The Culture Collection of Algae at the University of Cologne (CCAC) was formally established in spring 2001, when membership in the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC) was acquired. The CCAC is listed in the World Data Centre for Microorganisms under the registration number 807. The CCAC is also a corporate member in the European Culture Collections' Organisation (ECCO).

The CCAC maintains approximately 7,000 strains from around the world in four modern walk-in growth chambers operated at different temperatures. The strains are clonal or single cell isolates, if not otherwise stated. Most of these cultures were established by members or guests of the "Melkonian group" and are held exclusively by the CCAC. Some of our strains have also been deposited in other culture collections or were received from other collections. Most of the strains in the CCAC derive from freshwater/terrestrial habitats (85%), the remaining 15% represent marine or brackish water strains. 15% of the strains are axenic. About 2,100 strains are currently available to the public.

Since the team will be extremely busy with the transfer of the collection from Cologne to Essen, they ask their customers to understand that they cannot process any orders before the collection is established in Essen.

The CCAC accepts strains for deposition, if they are considered to be a valuable addition to the collection. Prospective depositors should contact the curator of the CCAC.