Burkholderia cepacia

Laboratory and Repository

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Burkholderia cepacia Laboratory and Repository (BcLR) was established in 1997 by Dr. John J. LiPuma in response to the emergence of Burkholderia cepacia as a life-threatening opportunistic respiratory pathogen in people with CF. The mission of the BcLR is to contribute to the detection, prevention, and treatment of Burkholderia infections in people with CF. The primary activities of the BcLR include the following:

Clinical Laboratory

Rapid and accurate identification of Burkholderia and related bacteria.
Bacterial genotyping to monitor for evidence of hospital-acquired or person-to-person spread of Burkholderia infection.

Research and Repository

Maintaining a collection of ~50,000 bacterial strains that are available to academic and industry researchers to support studies of clinical microbiology, taxonomy, epidemiology, virulence, and novel treatment approaches of CF infections.
Serving as a strain repository and clearing house for bacterial isolates from patients referred for potential bacteriophage therapy