Since the Drosophila lineage preservation system of Tokyo Metropolitan University was recognized as a business of Tokyo in 1962, it has continued to be one of the largest suppliers of Drosophila in Japan, providing specimens for education and research both in Japan and overseas. This work is done by animal breeding technicians, and laboratory support staff in related fields. A feature of our lineage preservation is that, in addition to Drosophila melanogaster mutations we also offer a large number of wild species and wild strains, specifically, more than 100 species and 3000 strains. In 2003, we provided a total of 6131 strains to 59 domestic research institutions, 42 overseas research institutions, and 42 middle- and high-schools.

The Makino Herbarium was established in 1958 to house the more than 400,000 specimens collected by Tomitaro Makino, who was the founder of Japanese plant taxonomy, but which had not yet been classified at the time of his death (the so-called Makino specimens). Classification work has been ongoing since such that, as of March 2003, around 400,000 specimens had been classified, with only about 100,000 still to be processed. The number of specimens with high scores and which are regarded as having high scientific value is on a level approaching the collections of the University of Tokyo, the National Science Museum, and Kyoto University, and is recognized as one of the world's principal herbariums, going by the international symbol MAK. The specimens housed in the Makino Herbarium are not just used for education and research both inside and outside the university, but can also be conveniently perused by researchers visiting from overseas and, in response to requests to borrow specimens, are made widely available to botanical researchers both in Japan and overseas.