The project is to develop a state-of-the-art liquid nitrogen storage facility for the Museum of Zoology (UMMZ) at the University of Michigan. The two year project involves the acquisition and installation of the liquid nitrogen freezers, inventory and transfer of previously accessioned tissues from old -80 degree C ultralow freezers to new -190 degree C liquid nitrogen freezers, and accession and transfer of a backlog of frozen tissues. The lower temperature offered by the liquid nitrogen freezers coupled with a static holding time of eight days will ensure both higher quality and safer long-term storage of tissues.
The UMMZ is an internationally recognized center of biodiversity research and teaching. It houses a Development of a Liquid Nitrogen Storage Facility for Frozen Tissues at the University of large collection of animals and associated materials, including frozen tissue, representing all primary global ecosystems. The collections provide data that inform conservation practices and climate change research. Five of the six Divisions (Fishes, Mollusks, Herpetology, Birds and Mammals) maintain frozen tissue collections totaling over 36,500 specimens. They serve as an important source of genetic material for biodiversity research and are utilized by researchers from all over the world. The proposed accessioning activities associated with this grant will immediately result in increased use of the resource.
(UMMZ) is an internationally recognized center of biodiversity research and teaching. It houses a large collection of animals and associated materials, representing all primary global ecosystems. Five of the six Divisions (Fishes, Mollusks, Herpetology, Birds and Mammals) maintain frozen tissue collections totaling over 36,500 specimens. They serve as an important source of genetic material for biodiversity research and are utilized by researchers from all over the world. Previously, this resource was maintained in six aging ultralow freezers located in separate areas of the Museum. None of the freezers had a back-up power supply in the event of a power failure. Our NSF award "Development of a Liquid Nitrogen Storage Facility for Frozen Tissues at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology" provided a means to upgrade the resource through the purchase of three large capacity liquid nitrogen freezers that maintain a temperature of -190 degree C. The lower temperature offered by the liquid nitrogen freezers coupled with a static holding time of eight days ensures both higher quality and safer long-term storage of tissues. The freezers are centrally located in newly renovated OSEH-compliant space. The two year project involved acquisition and installation of the liquid nitrogen freezers, inventory and transfer of previously accessioned tissues from ultralow freezers to the new freezers, and accession and transfer of a backlog of frozen tissues. Given that both curators and students use and deposit tissues at an increasing rate compared to the past, we expect that the size and use of the frozen tissue resource will continue to expand dramatically. As a center of biodiversity education the UMMZ also has a teaching mission. Undergraduate students are an integral part of curatorial and research activities and several students actively participated in accessioning tissues into the collection.
