Cryopreservation of the UTEX Algal Culture Collection

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9224425 Brand This award supports a feasibility study to determine if a reliable and practical method to cryopreserve algal strains can be developed. Specifically, Dr. Brand, in collaboration with Dr. Diller and Dr. Starr will develop means to cryopreserve the strains of algae in the University of Texas Culture Collection of Algae. Cryopreservation, if successful, will (1) stabilize and protect the algal resources, (2) diminish the day-to-day cost of maintaining the collection, and (3) make storage and shipment less expensive and more efficient. Prokaryotic algae (cyanobacteria) in general are amenable to storage under conditions currently used to cryopreserve other bacteria. Recent advances in techniques for cryopreservation of other organisms indicate that many of the eukaryotic algal strains will be amenable to cryopreservation without a major experimental effort. Protocols will be developed which permit cryopreserved cultures to be thawed and grown in small batches, thus making these generic resources available and useful for collections anywhere in the world which maintain algal strains for research, teaching and/or technology development. ***