This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) has been awarded a grant to database and curate it's DNA Bank. This project will address unprocessed specimens that have accumulated due to unanticipated growth. Accessions have surged from escalated efforts to document dwindling biodiversity and as a result of large scale multi-institutional projects (e.g., TreeBOL). Storage efficiency will be improved, tissue samples and DNA aliquots will be databased, and these data united with voucher herbarium specimen data. NYBG's herbarium is one of the most consulted in the world, and thus, its specimens have up-to-date identifications. An on-line catalog will promote efficient access to these research materials by the scientific community (http://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/DNABank.asp).
Training and career development will be provided to a technician and a graduate student working on this project. NYBG develops minority and under-represented groups through its intern and Graduate Studies programs, and by training international collaborators. Organizing the DNA Bank physically and electronically will facilitate their use in these educational endeavors, allow scientists without these resources to participate in Barcode of Life research, and position NYBG to be an international repository for future samples (e.g., NSF-funded MonAToL). Practices instituted at NYBG can be adopted by other institutions. The web page will stimulate the public's awareness of the significant research the DNA Bank supports.
