Today is World Microbiome Day and today the Microbiota Vault, together with all participating Local Collections, publishes the perspective paper “The Microbiota Vault Initiative: Safeguarding Earth’s microbial heritage for future generations” in Nature Communications.
The successful Launch Phase of the Microbiota Vault has proven the feasibility of its equitable framework, with 1’400+ samples from Local Collections across multiple continents safely stored. This achievement represents a truly global collaborative effort.
We extend our deepest gratitude to our Local Collections partners across Brazil, Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Laos, Thailand, and Switzerland who trusted us with their precious specimens while maintaining full sovereignty over their deposits.
Special thanks to our work package partners who made this vision reality: Pascale Vonaesch and Youzheng Teo at University of Lausanne, Adrian Egli, Diana Albertos Torres, Yuen Yi Li and Vanni Benvenga at University of Zurich, Nicholas Bokulich and Anton Lavrinienko at ETH Zurich, for their scientific excellence in validation, storage, sequencing, data management and data annotation.
We also celebrate our founding supporters who believed in this mission from the beginning: Seerave Foundation, Gebert Rüf Stiftung, Stiftung Fourfold, Oak Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, New England Biolabs, Pacific Star Foundation, Bengt E Gustafsson Fund, and Amy P. Goldman Foundation.
The Launch Phase has demonstrated that equitable international biobanking is not just possible – it is essential for preserving microbial diversity for future generations.
Now we will use this momentum to scale the initiative globally. To fully develop the Microbiota Vault as a guardian of microbial diversity for humanity’s long-term health, we are seeking additional visionary supporters to join our mission.
Together, we can safeguard Earth’s invisible but vital microbial heritage.