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遗传资源收藏馆是世界上最大、最活跃的野生脊椎动物冷冻组织收藏馆之一。 它包含来自 52,000 多个脊椎动物标本的 100,000 多个冷冻组织样本和组织提取物（例如 DNA、蛋白质和抗血清）。该藏品存放在 13 个超冷冰箱中，但需要将其转移到液氮 (LN) 储存库中进行保护。 超冷冰箱的最低温度为-80℃，而液氮的温度为-150℃。 较低的温度可以更有效地保存组织，而液氮储存可以保护标本免受断电造成的损坏，这在路易斯安那州并不罕见。 此外，馆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样本的交叉引用。 这笔赠款将资助未来三年将爬行动物标本从超冷冰箱转移到 LN。 它还将资助在此过程中升级爬行动物收藏。 将来，馆藏的其余部分将移至 LN 存储。 具体来说，该项目将需要购买两台 LN 冰箱和相关设备，能够容纳约 60,000 个样本，并聘请一名爬行动物学研究生作为策展助理来监督这一行动。 策展助理会检查我们每件作品的包装和数据。 15,000 个爬行动物标本，同时将样品移至液氮冷冻柜。 该项目将为馆藏和研究界带来诸多好处。 爬行动物标本将得到更好的保护，其数据将得到验证，使它们作为标本更有用。 从事这项工作的研究生策展助理将获得冷冻基因收藏品管理方面的培训，随着这些收藏品数量的增长，这项技能将变得越来越重要。 研究界将受益于馆藏总体管理和维护的改进。 从 1995 年到 2000 年，该收藏馆收藏了来自 22 个国家的 15,817 份组织标本，并向 11 个国家和美国的研究人员提供了 285 笔资助，其中包括 3,908 份组织。 自 1995 年以来，至少发表了 240 篇论文、论文和书籍，其中包含基于馆藏组织和提取物比较的结果。 该馆藏对研究界生产力的贡献将因资助而直接增长。

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.