Tetrahymena Stock Center

Deposition of strains pre-frozen in liquid nitrogen (5 strains or fewer)

1. As a first step, please email us. We need some preliminary information:
   
   
• What strains do you wish to deposit? A very brief description indicating why these strains are of potential interest and should be archived would be useful (this is not meant to be long or involved - just give us an idea of what we are dealing with).
  
  
• How many samples of each strain can you send? We prefer 5 vials of each strain if possible, 4 for long term storage and 1 to test thaw. If that is not possible, we will accept a minimum of 3 vials of a single culture, one of which will be test thawed here. Always maintain backups of the lines you ship until we verify that they have been safely tested and deposited.
  
  
• What size cryovial are you using? We use NALGENE System 100™ vials 5000-1012 (O.D. 12mm, height 38 mm) and 5000-1020 (O.D. 12 mm, height 48mm) to maximize freezer capacity. If you use different-sized vials, please tell us the manufacturer's name and catalog number so that we can be sure that the vials will fit in our freezer boxes.
  
  
2. Fill out a donor PDF form for each strain, using Adobe Acrobat Reader version 8 or later and saving each strain's PDF to a unique name on your local disk. When the forms are complete, email them to the Stock Center. Once we have the prerequisite information, the strains can be submitted. To insure clear, unambiguous labelling of all cryovials submitted, and to facilitate effective physical transfer of the cell lines, we will supply the following:
   
   
   • Cryolabels: We will use the information you supply to create special cryolabels for your vials, which we will ship to you. These labels will stick directly to frozen tubes at liquid nitrogen freezer temperatures without warming or thawing. The labels will be pre-printed with information on strain and freezer location that will interface in our database with the information you supply regarding your strains. This will prevent any problems reading the original labels on the tubes, which often are hand written cryptic notes specific to the freezer of origin. Since the donor lab will attach our labels to the frozen vials as they are readied for shipping, labeling errors will be minimized.
     
     
   • Shipping and Handling Information: Once you have attached the labels, you can ship the vials to us. We have found that cells frozen in standard cryovials travel satisfactorily when packed in sufficient dry ice and sent overnight express prior to being placed in our liquid nitrogen freezers. We will provide detailed shipping information at the time of transfer.