[NHCOLL-L:5050] Re: Labeling frozen, ethanol and nitrogen tissue tubes

Mon Nov 1 10:04:20 EDT 2010

Greg

Labels in tubes have less to do with contamination in that sense and more to do with contamination or destruction of DNA through leaching of compounds out of the paper that is used.  A large number of papers have formaldehyde in them as well as other compounds that can inadvertently harm or destroy DNA in your samples.  I have always been of the opinion that NOTHING makes it into the tube but the tissue itself.  Sterile techniques are less of a problem when you are dealing with relatively large amounts of tissue.  It is only when you start getting into the micro quantities used in ancient DNA labs that sterility and contamination become very important.

Also see my previous message about tube labeling techniques.  I never trust marking pens - no matter how good they are... if anything I use pencil in the field if I don't have the Brady with me.

Andy

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 Andy Bentley
 Ichthyology Collection Manager
 University of Kansas
 Natural History Museum & Biodiversity Research Center
 Dyche Hall
 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
 Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561
 USA

 Tel: (785) 864-3863
 Fax: (785) 864-5335
 Email: ABentley at ku.edu <mailto:ABentley at ku.edu>         :
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From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Watkins-Colwell, Gregory
Sent: Monday, October 25, 2010 10:05 AM
To: atrox10 at gmail.com; Kirsten Nicholson
Cc: NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:5030] Re: Labeling frozen, ethanol and nitrogen tissue tubes

Thanks for the summary Carol!

Here at YPM some tissue tubes have tags inside the tubes, some do not.  I do think it is cleaner than hand-scribbling on the outside and hoping somebody else can read it.   However, Carol's point is excellent.  It does make it somewhat harder to read the number for the tissue.  But, if there is a good object location record that speeds the process significantly.  If I know that tissue R123456 is in box 8 and cell 42, I shouldn't have to read too many tags through tube walls to verify that (one maybe).  As for sterile technique... oy... Having seen how many of these tissues are collected in the wild I'm not sure that sterile technique when removing a tag from a tissue tube is going to help much. That's a whole different set of issues.

Greg

--------------------------------------

Gregory J. Watkins-Colwell

Division of Vertebrate Zoology

Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

170 Whitney Avenue, Box 208118

New Haven, CT  06520

203/432-3791  or    fax: 203/432-2874

-----------------------------------

From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Carol Spencer
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2010 5:06 PM
To: Kirsten Nicholson
Cc: NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:5026] Re: Labeling frozen, ethanol and nitrogen tissue tubes

HI Kirsten and NH Coll (look, I am actually providing a summary Greg!):

We actually do put barcode labels on our tissues now, so once they get cataloged or after we write on them in the field, we add a barcode sticker that can stand up to liquid nitrogen temperatures and then associate that barcode with the cataloged specimen in our database. So this is more permanent. We could put a number inside, and some of our researchers do, but yes, it is very inconvenient later when you are trying to identify tubes, plus you have to be careful and use sterile techniques when pulling the label out. And some use an engraving pen in the field, but not all of our researchers, plus the b
We send tubes with subsamples out on loan, these are usually in 95% ethanol but sometimes in dry ice, and these tubes are labeled with pens, thus why we still need the ethanol-proof pens.

I did get a number of responses last time, to folks that use pens, labels, or etch on the vials (some of our researchers also etch the vials, in addition to marking them in the field). Here is a summary of the responses I received:

I haven't found anything perfect yet, but did find something much better you
might want to check out. Diversified Biotech (divbio.com <http://divbio.com/> ) has a solvent
resistant pen, cat. No. 122 Black, which appears to be much more resistant
to ethanol exposure than the VWR pens. I poured lots of ethanol (95%) over a
labeled tube, and while the VWR pen immediately bled badly, the DB pen ink
stayed almost completely intact. One caveat: neither can take a combination
of ethanol AND rubbing, which takes the ink right off. But I think we can
realistically avoid that combination of stresses in essentially all lab and
field conditions. If the ethanol dries, the ink again becomes very resistant
to rubbing, so there is no "permanent" effect of exposure to ethanol that I
can see right now.

On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 6:17 AM, Kirsten Nicholson <norops at gmail.com> wrote:

Good info, I'm always looking for better instruments for this sort of thing; thanks for sharing, Carol!

I'm coming late to this conversation, but I'm wondering about two things. One is, why not put labels inside the tubes instead of writing on the outside where there is the risk of rubbing off or coming off altogether? Its slightly more work, but the payoff is tremendous in terms of being sure of which tube has what inside.

The other is, I find it incredible that somebody hasn't produced a better system for this given that so many of us are faced with this problem of labeling tubes permanently.  I've seen ads for label makers that print labels out for tubes, but have not tried them, and generally these are not practical in the field, but might be useful once back in the lab.  Do you or does anyone out there have experience with these labeling machines for the lab?

Thanks,

Kirsten
-- 
Kirsten E. Nicholson, Ph.D

Asst. Prof. Biology          
Dept. of Biology             
217 Brooks Hall               
Central Michigan Univ.   
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859                  
989-774-3758            

and

Curator of Natural History
Museum of Cultural and Natural History
103 Rowe Hall
Central Michigan University
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
989-774-3829

On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 6:24 PM, Carol Spencer <atrox10 at gmail.com> wrote:

Hi NH-Coll:

Awhile ago I requested information from researchers about pens/markers to be used for writing on cryotubes for ethanol, frozen, or liquid nitrogen usage. Since that time we at MVZ have gone through a couple of marker types and seem to have found one that works well in all types of fluid. 

This is the VWR Histology Chemical-Resistant Marker, see information below.

Previously VWR had changed their formula and their markers were not working, so we switched to the Moist-Mark Cancer Diagnostics Pen (http://www.labsafety.com/Moist-Mark-Plus-Pen_s_141667/Label-Accessories_24541186/). This Moist-mark pen is very good with frozen or nitrogen tubes, BUT it will run when used with ethanol or other chemicals, especially when used on tubes that are very smooth and do not have a white area for writing. Since we keep our tubes in -80C, switching to liquid nitrogen, and we also use them when sending loans of tissue in 95% ethanol, we needed to mark with ink that will not come off in all situations.

When using the VWR marker, you should still allow the writing to dry completely (several minutes) before put any ethanol or other liquid into the tube.  If you rub the writing a lot, it will fade a bit, but overall this pen seems to work the most consistently.
Thanks,
Carol

VWR® Chemical-Resistant Marker

Supplier: VWR International

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Precision ultrafine tip permanently marks slides and cassettes. Ink is waterproof, smearproof, odorless, and resistant to most chemicals, including alcohol, formalin, and xylene. Color: black. 

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Description 

VWR Catalog# 

Unit 

Price 

Quantity 

VWR HISTOLOGY MARKER PK12 

95042-566 

Pack of 12 

$55.70 

Error! Filename not specified.

Error! Filename not specified. Please verify that you have logged in. This item is restricted for purchase to customers with an established account and the proper documentation on file. If you are logged in and believe you should have access to this item, please contact us for additional help at 1-888-320-4357. 

Error! Filename not specified. <https://www.vwrsp.com/myvwr/sb/index.cgi> 

-- 
Carol L. Spencer, Ph.D.
Staff Curator of Herpetology & Researcher
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
3101 Valley Life Sciences Building
University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA 94720-3160
atrox10 at gmail.com
atrox at berkeley.edu
TEL: 510-643-5778 /FAX: 510-643-8238

http://www.herpnet.org
http://mvz.berkeley.edu/
http://www.vertnet.org

-- 
Carol L. Spencer, Ph.D.
Staff Curator of Herpetology & Researcher
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
3101 Valley Life Sciences Building
University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA 94720-3160
atrox10 at gmail.com
atrox at berkeley.edu
TEL: 510-643-5778 /FAX: 510-643-8238

http://www.herpnet.org
http://mvz.berkeley.edu/
http://www.vertnet.org

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