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This collection was the brainchild of Dr. Norman Schenck. A professor of plant pathology at the University of Florida and a long-time mycorrhizologist, Dr. Schenck had a vision to create a living culture collection to preserve valuable germplasm and make this germplasm available to researchers and the public. In 1985, he received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and created the International Culture Collection of VA Mycorrhizal Fungi (INVAM). He served as curator of the collection for five years until his retirement in 1990.
Upon Dr. Schenck's retirement, 182 isolates in the collection were moved to West Virginia University and merged with a local collection maintained by Joe Morton. NSF has continued to fund the collection for approximately $100,000 per year (with 42-46% of this routed to the university for "overhead"). Grant cycles (renewals) were as follows:
| Mission Statement |
| To acquire, propagate, characterize, and maintain germplasm of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in living cultures for preservation and distribution to any person or institution |
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