Sustainability in Vapor-phase Nitrogen of a World-class Frozen Biorepository at the Museum of Southwestern Biology

The Museum of Southwestern Biology’s (MSB) Division of Genomic Resources (DGR) is a world-class, biorepository at the University of New Mexico (UNM) for cryogenic biological materials. Founded in 1979, DGR is the largest natural history collection of frozen mammal tissues worldwide and has significant frozen tissue collections of birds, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, and parasite tissues, including critical samples from endangered species and threatened ecosystems.

The DGR collection archives cryogenically preserved samples of animal tissues, whole organisms such as embryos and parasites, and purified DNA and RNA. The archive has more 700,000 frozen tissue samples from more than 300,000 vouchered specimens and is growing at 3-4 percent annually. DGR is global in scope and provides critical infrastructure for studies of genomics, climate change, molecular evolution, conservation biology, zoonotic disease, emerging pathogens, contaminants, and stable isotope ecology.

Annually, about 50 loans of 2,000 specimens generate about 58 peer-reviewed publications and more than 2,800 citations. At UNM, MSB is a leader in research productivity, undergraduate and graduate student training, and public service, especially activities related to biodiversity discovery, emerging zoonotic pathogens, and science-based management of our dwindling natural resources.

This project will upgrade DGR’s capacity for high-quality tissue storage in vapor-phase nitrogen. Following best practices in cryopreservation, it will substantially enhance this state-of-the-art scientific infrastructure to serve the global biodiversity science community.

This project will ensure the long-term preservation, growth, and sustainability of the Division of Genomic Resources (DGR) in the Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB). This project more than doubles DGR’s vapor-phase nitrogen storage capacity – the gold standard for frozen tissue storage – by adding six nitrogen cryotanks and a second cryohead generator to double liquid nitrogen generating capacity in the facility.

This major upgrade will transfer the entire collection from tenuous ultralow freezers to secure vapor-phase nitrogen storage at -196°C. The improvements will also accommodate more than 5-years of growth, substantially reduce electrical consumption, and dramatically increase safe holding time of the frozen collection to 21 days vs. 2 hours if a freezer fails in case of catastrophic emergencies.

Finally, MSB’s track record of community outreach, student training, and involvement of under-represented minorities in biodiversity science demonstrates a sincere and long-term commitment to museum-based science education. This project will recruit, support, and train a diverse population of UNM students by immersing them in best practices in museum sciences as they learn how museum collections contribute to important societal questions.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.