Operation of UTEX Culture Collection of Algae

该奖项再次支持德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的UTEX藻类培养物保藏中心（UTEX）。UTEX藻类收集包括各种主要是单细胞的淡水藻类，包括硅藻和蓝绿藻。 该收藏每年向学术科学家（用于基础研究）、政府机构（用于研究和水质分析）、公司（用于水生动物食品、应用研究和生物技术开发）以及教育工作者和学生（用于教学）提供数千种样品培养物。目前有超过1600种UTEX菌株被冷冻保存。冷冻保存使维持菌株的成本最小化，并降低了使用连续培养维持菌株时可能发生的遗传漂变的风险。该保藏中心维护一个网站，其中包括一个数据库，列出了保藏中心的所有培养物、菌株历史和培养基配方。UTEX作为藻类培养信息的资源，并提供短期访问的机会，以学习在研究中使用藻类所需的方法和技术。授予的资金支付大约三分之二的收藏运作费用，其余部分由大学和用户费支付。 未来五年内计划的改进包括冷冻保存几乎所有的UTEX菌株，开发全基因组DNA库，并将许多UTEX藻类的图像添加到网站上提供的信息中。

This award renews support to the UTEX Culture Collection of Algae (UTEX) at the University of Texas at Austin. The UTEX algal collection includes a variety of mostly unicellular, freshwater algae, including diatoms and blue-green algae. The collection provides several thousand sample cultures every year to academic scientists (for basic research), to governmental agencies (for research and water quality analysis), to companies (for aquatic animal food, applied research, and biotechnology development), and to educators and students (for teaching and learning). Over 1600 UTEX strains are currently cryopreserved. Cryopreservation minimizes the cost of maintaining strains, and reduces the risk of genetic drift which may occur when strains are maintained using serial culture. The collection maintains a web site that includes a database listing all cultures in the collection, strain histories, and recipes for culture media. UTEX acts as a resource for information about the culture of algae, and provides opportunities for short-term visits to learn methods and techniques needed for use of algae in research. Awarded funds cover approximately two-thirds of the cost of operation of the collection with the remainder covered by the University and by user fees. Planned improvements within the next five years include cryopreservation of nearly all UTEX strains, development of a reservoir of whole genomic DNA, and addition of images of many UTEX algae to information provided on the web site.