Upgrading the LSU Collection of Herpetological Genetic Resources to Liquid Nitrogen Storage

路易斯安那州立大学自然科学博物馆的遗传资源收藏是世界上最大和最活跃的野生脊椎动物冷冻组织收藏之一。它包含来自52,000多个脊椎动物标本的100,000多个冷冻组织和组织提取物（例如DNA，蛋白质和抗血清）样本。该系列被安置在13个超冷冷冻箱中，但需要将其保护转移到液氮（LN）储存。超低温冰柜的最低温度为-80摄氏度，而液氮的最低温度为-150摄氏度。较低的温度可以更有效地保存组织，LN储存可以保护标本免受停电造成的损害，这在路易斯安那州并不罕见。此外，收藏中的许多爬行动物样本需要大量的管理关注，包括从旧容器转移到Nunc管，数据库更新以及与凭证标本交叉参考。这笔赠款将资助在未来三年内将爬行动物标本从超低温冷冻库转移到LN。在此过程中，它还将为爬虫类收藏的升级提供资金。在将来，Collection的其余部分将被移动到LN存储中。具体来说，该项目将需要购买两台LN冷冻机和相关设备，可容纳约6万个样本，并聘请一名爬行动物学研究生担任馆长助理，监督这一行动。馆长助理将检查我们大约15000个爬行动物标本的包装和数据，同时将样品转移到LN冷冻室。该项目将为收藏馆和研究界带来几个好处。爬行动物标本将得到更好的保护，它们的数据将得到验证，使它们作为标本更有用。执行这项工作的研究生馆长助理将获得冷冻基因收藏的管理培训，随着这些收藏数量的增加，这项技能将变得越来越重要。研究界将从总体上改进的收藏管理和护理中受益。从1995年到2000年，收集了来自22个国家的15817个组织标本，并向11个国家和美国的研究人员提供了285笔赠款，其中包括3908个组织。自1995年以来，至少出版了240篇论文、论文和书籍，其中包含了基于对收集的组织和摘录的比较的结果。该收藏对研究界生产力的贡献将直接作为资助的结果而增长。

The Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science Collection of Genetic Resources is one of the largest and most active collections of wild vertebrate frozen tissues in the world. It contains more than 100,000 samples of frozen tissues and tissue extracts (e.g., DNA, proteins, and antisera) from over 52,000 individual vertebrate specimens. The Collection is housed in 13 ultracold freezers, but needs for its protection to be moved to liquid nitrogen (LN) storage. Ultracold freezers have a minimum temperature of -80oC, whereas liquid nitrogen has a temperature of -150oC. The colder temperature would preserve the tissues more effectively, and LN storage would protect the specimens from damage caused by electric power outages, which are not uncommon in Louisiana. In addition, many of the herpetological samples in the Collection require substantial curatorial attention, including transfer from old containers to Nunc tubes, database updating, and cross referencing with voucher specimens. This grant would fund the transfer of herpetological specimens from ultracold freezer storage to LN over the next three years. It would also fund the upgrade of the herpetological collection in the process. In the future, the rest of the Collection would be moved to LN storage. Specifically, the project would entail purchasing two LN freezers and associated equipment, which would be capable of holding about 60,000 samples, and employing a herpetology graduate student as a curatorial assistant to oversee the move. The curatorial assistant would review the packaging and data of each of our ca. 15,000 herpetological specimens while moving the samples to LN freezers. The project would have several benefits for the Collection and the research community. The herpetological specimens would be better protected, and their data would be verified, making them more useful as specimens. The graduate curatorial assistant performing the work would gain training in the curation of frozen genetic collections, a skill that will become increasingly important as the number of these collections grows. The research community will benefit from improved curation and care of the Collection in general. From 1995 through 2000, the Collection accessioned 15,817 tissue specimens from 22 countries and provided 285 grants consisting of 3,908 tissues to researchers in 11 countries, plus the USA. Since 1995, at least 240 theses, papers, and books containing results based on comparisons of the Collection's tissues and extracts were published. The contribution of the Collection to the productivity of the research community will grow directly as a result of the grant.