Researchers around the world can now more easily discover and access thousands of biological specimens housed at the University of Michigan thanks to the launch of the new LSA Biorepository Portal.
This digital milestone provides a centralized, searchable portal for exploring tissue and biodiversity collections stewarded by units across the U-M’s research museums and scientific initiatives. Users can search specimens by scientific name, geography, taxonomy, preservation type, and more.
“This tool will serve as a vital bridge between our physical specimens and global research, making the curation and discovery processes more efficient than ever,” said Nicte Ordóñez Garza, Research Collection Manager, Microbes, Parasites, and Biodiversity Initiative (MPABI).
Currently, the platform includes collections from the U-M Museum of Zoology (UMMZ) Division of Mammals, Division of Reptiles & Amphibians, the Collection of Zoosporic Eufungi at the University of Michigan (CZEUM), and the Microbes, Parasites, and Biodiversity Initiative (MPABI). Together, these collections represent decades of scientific fieldwork and biodiversity research from around the globe.
The portal allows researchers to browse available specimens and associated metadata while streamlining requests for loans and scientific access. Collections include more than 44,300 frozen tissues, DNA samples, blood samples, parasites, fungi, and other preserved biological materials critical for research in biodiversity, evolution, conservation, infectious disease, and environmental change.
For initiatives like MPABI, the platform also strengthens efforts focused on pandemic preparedness and pathogen discovery by improving access to wildlife-associated samples and related data.
“This new portal helps make our world-class collections more accessible to the broader scientific community,” said Oliver Keller, Research Museum Collection Specialist at MPABI. “By connecting researchers with specimens and data more efficiently, we can help accelerate scientific discovery and collaboration.”
As the portal continues to scale, ongoing efforts will focus on making the search functionality even faster while expanding access to additional collections. Currently in phase three of a five-phase growth plan, the web portal ultimately aims to offer map-based collection locality displays and enhanced geographic search capabilities.
The launch reflects a growing movement in natural history collections toward digitization and expanded accessibility, ensuring that scientific collections gathered over generations continue to support new discoveries for years to come.
Explore the portal at biorepository.lsa.umich.edu.
