[Nhcoll-l] Freezer storage of EtoH tissue samples

[Doug Yanega]

On 1/30/15 10:24 AM, John P. Sullivan wrote:
> I am curious to know how people on this list deal with cold storage 
> for DNA samples in ethanol.
>
> We have thousands of tissue samples and fish fin clips preserved in 
> 95% EtOH in 2ml Sarstedt screw cap vials. We typically store 16 boxes 
> of 81 tubes per freezer rack and can fit 20 racks in a 
> refrigerator/freezer.  This makes for a maximum of 52 liters or 13.7 
> gallons of EtOH stored in such a refrigerator/freezer.
>
> We have been informed by Environmental Health and Safety at our 
> institution that it is improper to store these in regular freezers (as 
> opposed to prohibitively expensive, specialized “flammable material” 
> freezers).
>
We were given the same instructions from our EHS people, and we now keep 
all our cold ethanol in three Fisher Scientific "Explosion-Proof" 
freezers, that cost around $2500 each. Money to cover the extra cost was 
obtained through various means, different for each of the three; one was 
through a "University of California Genetic Resources Conservation 
Program"award. You might find out if your institution has a similar fund 
available to you.

Good luck,

-- 
Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
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   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82

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