A grant has been awarded to the University of Florida under the direction of Dr. Juan A. Lopez to acquire equipment for the establishment of a cryogenic storage facility to house more than 30,000 samples of DNA, RNA, and protein from specimens in the Florida Museum of Natural History. The project will help standardize storage and preservation methods to ensure long-term maintenance of frozen genetic materials for scientific research. Such samples are assuming greater importance, as investigators are able to gather the macromolecular components from traditional museum specimens as well as new field collections. Materials in the cryogenic storage facility will be catalogued using the software package Freezerworks. Two graduate students will participate in the project and be trained in cryogenic and curatorial methods and serve as collection managers for the duration of the award.
