Collections Improvement for Genetic Resources at the Burke Museum

华盛顿的伯克博物馆遗传资源收藏馆拥有约14，000个脊椎动物个体（主要是鸟类），是美国鸟类收藏的前五名，并以每年约1，500个脊椎动物个体代表的速度积极增长。 该藏品的规模之大令人惊讶，最近主要收购了来自北方亚洲、尼加拉瓜、南非、阿根廷、澳大利亚、所罗门群岛和北太平洋的冷冻组织标本。 该收藏的两个最有价值的属性是其对一般的关注，而不是研究驱动的收集，以及其在鸟类学和哺乳动物学收藏中作为凭证和扩展翅膀标本的个体组织标本的近乎完整的代表性。 遗传资源库的发展势头日益强劲，最近的几项任命，包括一名遗传资源馆长、一名哺乳动物馆长和一名遗传资源管理员，在过去五年中，该库向8个国家的系统分类学家、进化生物学家和生物医学科学家分发了1 700多份样本，而且数量还在继续增加。 在过去五年中，遗传资源收藏提供的样本为35份以上的出版物提供了素材，并在若干情况下为华盛顿大学和其他地方的博士论文提供了核心材料。 该系列由遗传资源策展人和遗传资源全职经理策划。 尽管如此，由于大学和私人资助的实地考察增加了标本采集量，以及对华盛顿大学内外标本的需求增加，对标本储存和收藏品保管的需求不断增加，因此需要为进一步的储存设备、计算机和劳动力提供资金，以减少尚未纳入收藏品和数据库的标本积压。该项目将协助（1）购买两个额外的立式-80 ℃冷冻机和相关的二氧化碳备份系统、机架、储存盒、标本管和电气改造;（2）购买一个改进的数据库备份系统;（3）雇用一名研究生将储存在大小瓶裂解缓冲液和酒精中的积压的1，500个组织转移到2毫升试管中进行冷冻;对尚未清点的550个异质冷冻组织进行清点、转移到2毫升小瓶中、安装和输入数据;以及打印计算机生成的标签并将其贴在收集的所有试管上;（4）购买制冰机和干冰储存容器，以便在现场上级地储存组织并简化组织借出协议;（5）购买遗传资源数据库专用的计算机和显示器。 额外的冰柜、干冰储存和制冰机的可用性将提高从当地实地转移的组织的质量，并使最近返回的探险队的组织更容易组织和获得。 计算机将提高馆长和管理人员在数据库的管理和管理方面的自给自足能力。

With about 14,000 vertebrate individuals represented in its holdings (mostly birds), the Burke Museum Genetic Resources Collection at the University of Washington (UW)is among the top five such collections for birds in the United States and is actively growing at a rate of about 1,500 individual vertebrate representatives per year. The Collection is surprisingly broad for its size, with recent major acquisitions of frozen tissue specimens from northern Asia, Nicaragua, South Africa, Argentina, Australia, the Solomon Islands and the North Pacific Ocean. Two of the most valuable attributes of the collection are its focus on general, as opposed to research-driven, collecting, and its near complete representation of individual tissue specimens as voucher and extended wing specimens in the Ornithology and Mammalogy Collections. The increasing momentum of the Genetic Resources Collection is evident in several recent appointments, including a Curator of Genetic Resources, a Curator of Mammals, and a Manager of Genetic Resources.In the last five years, the Collection has distributed over 1,700 samples to systematists, evolutionary biologists and biomedical scientists in 8 countries at a rate that continues to grow. The Genetic Resources Collection has provided samples that have contributed to over 35 publications in the last five years, and in several cases has provided the core materials for doctoral dissertations both at the University of Washington and elsewhere. The Collection is curated by a Curator of Genetic Resources and a full-time Manager of Genetic Resources. Nonetheless, increasing demands on specimen storage and Curation of the collection, due both to increased specimen acquisition from University and privately funded field expeditions and to increased demand for specimens from inside and outside the UW, necessitate funding for further storage equipment, computers and labor to reduce the backlog of specimens not yet integrated into the Collection and database.To meet this increase in demand, this project will assist in the (1) purchase two additional upright -80C freezers and associated CO 2 backup systems, racks, storage boxes, specimen tubes and electrical modifications; (2) purchase an improved database backup system; (3) employ a graduate student to transfer a backlog of 1,500 tissues stored in large vials of lysis buffer and alcohol to 2 ml tubes for freezing; to inventory, transfer to 2 ml vials, install and enter data for 550 heterogeneous frozen tissues not yet inventoried; and to print and affix computer generated labels to all tubes in the collection; (4) purchase anice maker and dry ice storage vessel for superior storage of tissues in the field and for streamlining the tissue loan protocol; (5) purchase a computer and monitor dedicated to the Genetic Resources Database. The availability of extra freezers, dry ice storage, and an ice maker will increase the quality of tissues when transferred from local field sites and the ease with which tissues from recently returned expeditions can be organized and accessioned. The computer will increase self-sufficiency of the Curator and Manager in curation and management of its database.