Many recent advances in biological sciences have resulted from biochemical studies focused at the molecular level. The source of these molecules is frozen tissue. The Frozen Tissue Collection at the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science is the largest of its kind. It contains tissue samples of over 30,000 vertebrate animals, each preserved at -70 C. Ultracold preservation insures that proteins and the hereditary information itself, DNA, remain in a physiologically active (viable) state. The collection is used for studies of comparative biochemistry, physiology, genetics, forensics and evolution. Researchers throughout the United States and Canada regularly use the collection, which clearly constitutes a national resource, one not replicated in the U.S. or elsewhere. Frozen tissue collections are costly to maintain and operate. Expensive freezers are required for ultracold preservation. Manipulation of samples is very labor intensive, because each specimen must remain frozen (specimens must be sorted on dry ice). LSU currently supplies a Ph.D. level curator, a graduate curatorial assistant (50% time), and utility costs for freezers. This project provides funds for needed equipment and labor to manage and computerize the collection and make it a fully functional national resource, one capable of accepting and dispersing tissue samples to the research community. The project will ensure that these irreplaceable research materials are well maintained and made readily available to the research community.
