Natural History Biorepositories are Critical Infrastructure for Pandemic Preparedness

Purpose of review: There are more than 30 million vertebrate specimens warehoused in global natural history museums, many with associated cryogenically frozen tissues. With >75% of emerging diseases in humans coming from non-human animals, these samples represent foundational infrastructure for pandemic preparedness, yet are underutilized by the health community. Recent findings: Museum biorepositories enhance pandemic preparedness in three ways: (1) as a source of physical biological samples and data, (2) as a sample repository, and (3) as a hub of taxonomic and field expertise. Together, these resources facilitate detection, monitoring, and characterization of pathogens in wild hosts, inform predictive models, and facilitate rapid scaling of wildlife and pathogen surveillance in response to an outbreak. Summary: Natural history collections represent a powerful but underutilized sample and data bank for pandemic preparedness. Increased reciprocity between biomedical and biodiversity sciences will serve both communities.