Algae are extraordinarily diverse photosynthetic organisms. Along with plants, they are responsible for nearly all primary production. Algae are critical to the sustainability of life on earth and are also of considerable economic importance. Because of their considerable evolutionary, genetic, and biochemical diversity, algae are widely utilized in basic and applied research and education. Algae have great potential for the development of renewable fuels, as sustainable sources of food for humans, livestock and fish, for pharmaceutical discovery, as engines to drive carbon sequestration, and for many other applications that will benefit humanity moving forward in the 21^st century.

The Culture Collection of Algae at the University of Texas at Austin (UTEX) is among the most diverse collections of living algae in the world. It currently maintains approximately 3,000 unique strains of algae. UTEX is internationally recognized as a valuable source of living algae, algae-related materials, and information. As a curated public collection, UTEX is an important part of the U.S. biological infrastructure and makes essential contributions to the continuity and reproducibility of research by preserving the uniformity and stability of algal strains and related materials.

UTEX is a nonprofit organization. Principal financial support is obtained through the National Science Foundation. Additional support comes from the College of Natural Sciences of The University of Texas at Austin and through the sale of cultures and related materials to the user community. UTEX supports the research and education communities through the provision of algal cultures along with a variety of other goods and services. UTEX distributes more than 2,000 cultures annually and the use of UTEX strains is cited in approximately 1,000 scholarly publications and patents each year. UTEX maintains an extensive public web site (https://utex.org/) that contains UTEX strain data and information on algal culturing methods.

UTEX has been in continuous operation since 1953. It was established by Dr. Richard C. Starr at Indiana University and was moved to its present location at The University of Texas at Austin in 1976. Dr. Starr served as Director of UTEX until 1998. He was succeeded by Dr. Jerry Brand who served as Director from 1998 until 2015. UTEX is currently lead by the Curator, Dr. David Nobles Jr.