Collections Improvement for Genetic Resources at the Burke Museum

华盛顿大学（UW）的伯克博物馆遗传资源收藏馆（Burke Museum Genetic Resources Collection）拥有大约14000个脊椎动物个体（主要是鸟类），是美国五大此类鸟类收藏馆之一，并以每年约1500个脊椎动物个体的速度积极增长。就其规模而言，该收藏的范围之广令人惊讶，最近主要收购了来自北亚、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它的重点是一般的，而不是研究驱动的收集，以及它在鸟类和哺乳动物收藏中几乎完整地代表了单个组织标本的凭证和扩展翼标本。遗传资源收藏的增长势头在最近的几次任命中显而易见，包括遗传资源馆长、哺乳动物馆长和遗传资源经理。在过去五年中，该收藏以持续增长的速度向8个国家的系统学家、进化生物学家和生物医学科学家分发了1,700多个样本。在过去的五年里，遗传资源收集所提供的样本为超过35种出版物做出了贡献，并且在一些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。该收藏由遗传资源馆长和遗传资源全职经理管理。尽管如此，由于从大学和私人资助的实地考察中获得的标本增加，以及对华盛顿大学内外标本的需求增加，对标本储存和收藏管理的需求不断增加，需要为进一步的存储设备、计算机和劳动力提供资金，以减少尚未整合到收集和数据库中的积压标本。为了满足这一需求的增加，该项目将协助(1)购买两个额外的-80℃直立冷冻机和相关的CO 2备用系统、机架、存储箱、标本管和电气改造；(2)购买改进的数据库备份系统；(3)聘请一名研究生将储存在大瓶裂解缓冲液和酒精中的1,500份组织转移到2毫升的试管中进行冷冻；要清点，转移到2ml小瓶，安装并输入550个尚未清点的异质冷冻组织的数据；并打印和粘贴计算机生成的标签，以收集所有的管；(4)购买制冰机和干冰储存容器，以便在现场更好地储存组织，并简化组织租借协议；(5)购买一台专用于遗传资源数据库的计算机和监视器。额外的冷冻室、干冰储存库和制冰机的可用性将提高从当地现场转移的组织的质量，并且可以轻松地组织和加入最近返回的探险队的组织。计算机将增加馆长和管理员在管理和管理其数据库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.