FAQ

All institutions interested in the field of leptospirosis can purchase strains and materials from the Leptospirosis Reference Centre. Prior to shipping any goods, AmsterdamUMC requires a signed Material Transfer Agreement (MTA), which governs the purchase and use of all AmsterdamUMC materials. A standardized template MTA will be sent to you upon request, or when you have completed a purchase order.

Shipment of strains requires an authorized courier service. Other materials can be shipped by various forms of mail, depending on your indications. Please notice that we are not responsible for the quality of strains and materials during and after shipment (see General Conditions). We strongly recommend inquiring carefully for international trade restrictions or national regulations that might render the purchase inoperative, prior to ordering. All materials will be shipped at ambient temperature, unless otherwise requested and agreed. Strains are sent in EMJH liquid culture medium or semi-solid Fletcher’s medium.

Materials will be prepared for shipment within three working days after we receive notice of payment to AMC and can acknowledge this, provided required documentation is also available. However, we avoid shipping over the weekend. When using a courier, we will send notice of the shipment and its tracking number.

In principle, payment has to be done prior to shipment. Exceptions can be made on specific request.

The Leptospira strains are shipped at ambient temperature in a semi-solid (Fletcher's) or liquid (EMJH) medium. It is advised to subculture the strains upon arival in your laboratory within one week in a suitable medium. 

No, it is not possible to create a personal account.

Not all couriers are licensed to ship dangerous goods of distinct categories such as pathogenic strains. Your courier account number might not include such shipments. In order to avoid complication during the shipment, we strongly recommend your inquiring about such limitations at your courier prior to ordering. You may consider upgrading your courier account or changing your courier. Alternatively you may make use of our courier service. In that case, shipment costs will be added to the invoice.

‘Default’ prices are those for commercial institutions. We use reduced pricing for not-for-profit institutions such as research centres, universities and public health laboratories. This has to be indicated in the purchase process. Please note that there will be a check on the status of your organization.

AMC uses differential pricing for commercial versus not-for-profit institutions. We choose to apply discounting to the latter category. 

The Leptospirosis Reference Centre also offers serological and molecular typing service. For serological typing a culture of viable cells is required. Molecular typing can be done on good quality extracted DNA. Please contact us via lepto@amc.nl for costs and conditions. See also our fact sheet Leptospirosis Products and Services.

The Leptospira strain collection presented in the Leptospira Library lists reference strains. These are predominantly strains that (permanently) lost virulence through frequent in vitro passages. The reference centre collection also contains numerous fresh isolates from various sources, i.e. isolates with a low number of in vitro passages that still are virulent or allow restoration of virulence. Although distribution of such isolates is not part of our terms of reference with national and international organizations, such isolates, as far as present, can be purchased upon specific request by contacting us via lepto@amc.nl. We wish to stress that the reference centre is not licenced to perform animal testing to confirm virulence. Fresh isolates will be provided with information that includes the number of in vitro passages. AMC cannot be held responsible for the assumed virulence.

It is advisable to have your published strains deposited in the collection of the Leptospirosis Reference Centre for a number of reasons. For example (i) it secures the strain and (ii) most scientific journals request that you make published strains available to the community or require deposit of the strains in a recognized international collection. Best is to consult the reference centre via lepto@amc.nl on the procedure for deposition, including shipment requirements and delivery address. Maintenance of strains in the collection is free of charge. However, shipment has to be arranged at your own costs. Strains in the collection are open for distribution to others. A Certificate of deposit needed for publication can be provided upon request.

The Dutch form, ‘Aanvraagformulier diagnostiek’, can be found via this link.