NIFS announced that starting in March, it will expand the number of distribution resources of aquatic pathogens from 10 species and 10 strains to 12 species and 13 strains. 

The newly added ones this time were selected from the poll for users of the distribution service and there was a considerable demand for the three strains: Streptococcus parauberis, Aeromonas veronii, and Edwardsiella tarda. 

As a research institute, NIFS collects and conserves not only pathogens causing the disease of aquaculture organisms including fish, crustacea, and shellfish, but also a wide range of microorganisms living in aquaculture environment. Since 2002, NIFS has secured and managed about 7,700 microorganisms. 

After its first distribution of three(3) species and three(3) strains in 2005, NIFS has steadily expanded the number of species and strains for the distribution: seven(7) species and seven(7) strains in 2014; 10 species and 10 strains in 2023; and 12 species* and 13 strains in 2025. 

*12 species: Vibrio genus (3 species), Streptococcus genus (2 species), Aeromonas genus (2 species), Edwardsiella genus (3 species), Lactococcus genus (1 species), Photobacterium genus (1 species) 

The strains, which NIFS provides to universities, laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, etc. for free, earn a recognition as a high value-added resources in that they can be utilized in a wide range of industries, such as disease research, development of diagnostic method and medicine (including diagnostic kit, vaccine, and treatment). 

As the biopharmaceutical industry has been on a steady growth, in particular, the government designated veterinary medicines as the green-bio industry together with seeds, microorganisms, food materials, etc. and embarked on the promotion of relevant industries. Against this backdrop, the demand for the distribution of microorganisms has continuously increased. 

*In 2023, the biopharmaceutical market was valued domestically at 4 trillion 750.3 billion won (15% of the total pharmaceutical market)/ globally at 564.9 billion U.S. dollars (40% of the total pharmaceutical market) (Source: the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the Korea Biomedicine Industry Association)

**In 2022, the veterinary medicines market was valued domestically at 1 trillion 431.3 billion won and globally 47 billion U.S. dollars (Source: the Korea Animal Health Products Association) 

Meanwhile, NIFS is going to support researchers for in-depth research with open-access to the whole genome sequence from September of this year, along with the provision of aquatic pathogens resources and the history of collecting the resources. 

NIFS also plans to conduct training on the management of microorganism resources for capacity building of testing bodies by hosting molecular diagnostics workshop. 

The president of NIFS said, "I hope that the microorganism resources can be utilized in various research and development, contributing to the damage control of diseases in aquaculture site." He also said, "Going forward, NIFS will exert its best efforts to contribute to the growth of biopharmaceutical industry by carrying out thoroug quality management, as well as expanding the resources for distribution based on the demand of researchers, industries, and other stakeholders in various fields."