open weekdays 8am - 5pm
visitors welcome by appointment
information for visitors
phone: (505) 277-1360
fax: (505) 277-1351
museum administrator
mailing:
Mariel Campbell
Division of Genomic Resources
Museum of Southwestern Biology
1 University of New Mexico
MSC03-2020
Albuquerque, NM 87131
The Division of Genomic Resources (DGR) of the Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB) is a centralized repository for cryogenic material from all MSB divisions at the University of New Mexico and other individuals and institutions worldwide for which archival agreements are extant.
Collections include, but are not limited to, cryogenically preserved samples of animal tissues, whole organisms such as embryos and parasites, and purified DNA and RNA for the MSB divisions of Mammals, Birds, Fishes, Herpetology, and Parasitology. The collection contains over 600,000 samples representing more than 232,000 specimens. The collection is taxonomically broad, representing Mammals (92%), Birds (4.5%), Reptiles (.5%), Fishes (2.5%), and a growing collection of associated endo- and ectoparasites (.5%). The MSB Mammal portion of the collection spans 72 countries, with particularly strong holdings from the Southwestern United States, Beringia, and Latin America. The mammal portion alone represents 27 orders, the majority from Rodentia (127,882), Chiroptera (20,777), Carnivora (7,084), and Soricomorpha (4,914). The MSB Birds portion of the collection spans 64 countries representing 28 orders, the majority from the Order Passeriformes (17,609). The mammal tissue collection is the largest museum collection of mammalian frozen tissues, and the bird tissue collection is in the top 10 worldwide. Samples are archived in 3 high-efficiency Labs 94K cryofreezer tanks at -190C and 13 ultralow mechanical freezers at -80C. Nitrogen for cryostorage is provided by an on-site liquid nitrogen cryogenerator.
