This page means to debunk the urban legends, myths, and other
superstitions that have been running wild about the facilities. I hope you
enjoy it and find answers to any questions you might have had.
Always remember that the Collection
Manager of the AMCC are a phone call or an email away to answer your
most pressing questions, anxieties, fits of despair, emergencies, etc.
As gossip multiplies and wildly circulates, we will add answers to it
on this page. So stay tuned!
OWNERSHIP
1. Do I lose ownership of my samples if I donate them to the AMCC?
If you are an AMNH researcher, the samples you have collected while at the
AMNH belong to the institution, not to you. Therefore, donating your
specimens to the AMCC does not change the status of ownership of the
tissues.
If you are an external donor, yes: your tissue are DONATED, and therefore
become the property of AMNH.
HOWEVER: Ownership by the AMCC
does not mean you lose all control over where the tissue goes, or to whom it
goes.
The AMCC has institutioned 3 levels of donor control of his or her
samples:
1. Restriction: Validity = 5 years. Restriction means
that a donor has the right to restrict both electronic and physical access to
his or her samples by the scientific community (i.e. by not having their
samples posted on the AMCC online database). This can happen, for example, if
a researcher is in the process of writing a manuscript and does not want to
run the risk of being 'scooped'. There are many other reasons why a
researcher would restrict access to tissue samples.
2. Permission: Validity = ad nauseum. The samples are posted
online, and therefore seen by the scientific community and thus requested on
loan. The Permission allows the donor a
right of veto the loan of his or her samples if he or she deems the loan
request to be unreasonable.
3. Notification: Validity = ad nauseum. The samples are posted
online, can be sent on loan, the donor does not wish to veto any loan request
BUT the donor would like to be notified when his or her tissues go on
loan.
3'.
I-don't-want-to-be-bothered-each-time-a-loan-of-my-tissue-comes-in: is
a big favorite. You leave the responsibility to the AMCC to handle accession
and loan request of your tissues. The AMCC keeps a tight and precise record
for each loan, in any case, so you can always ask for a loan report on your
tissues if you so desire, at anytime.
ACCESS TO THE AMCC
1. But I cannot access my samples 24/7!
True. You can't. But think about it for one second: if YOU have a 24/7
access to your samples, it means that everyone else has too. And while there
is never any malicious intent to lose, leave out to thaw or contaminate your
samples by anyone else, in these unregulated, uncontrolled access
environment, an accident is more than likely to happen.
Have you looked at the electrical freezer near you recently (where your
samples are stored)? Yeah... it looks like this:
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| Inappropriate label and data capturing |
Inappropriate container
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Inappropriate storage
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By giving an aliquot of your sample to the AMCC, you ensure that your
specimens will not:
a) get lost in the ice,
b) be left out by someone who was rummaging through the freezer for
their samples,
c) be accidentally spilled, broken, contaminated, etc. etc.,
d) thaw out during the next blackout (oh yes, it can happen again, and
it will!),
e) thaw out because the freezer compressor blew up last week-end.
IN ANY CASE, IF YOU REQUEST YOUR SAMPLES BACK AS A
LOAN: once you request your samples on
loan, the AMCC will take 24 hours to process it, which is faster than most
departments, is made in a safer environment, and if you are in an extreme
emergency, will even allow you to come down yourself and subsample your own
samples in a clean and sterile environment.
There is no good reason for not providing your hard
earned/collected samples with the best environment this museum can provide.
The AMCC will always try its best to accommodate your request, no
matter how urgent it is.
2. Why do I need to make an appointment to come down to the AMCC?
Simply because the AMCC is a biosafety II lab and has restricted access
(see Collection Policies, Lab
Facilities, and Chemical Hygiene
Plan).
You should always, as a courtesy to the staff of the AMCC, announce your
coming because:
a) the AMCC operates with Liquid Nitrogen which is a potential hazard,
particularly to the untrained staff. This is one of the reason why NO ONE
can enter the lab without an AMCC curatorial assistant accompanying,
b) your unannounced presence can also disturb the technicians who might
be working on delicate samples,
c) the staff might be in a meeting
d) the lab might be toured by important donors, trustees, scores of
screaming schoolchildren etc.
SO PLEASE, BE CONSIDERATE: ANNOUNCE
YOURSELF at least 10 minutes before coming
down.
We have not instituted these rules to annoy you, but to
provide the best service possible and make sure our operation runs smoothly
and that your samples are provided the best repository possible.
See also our visitors
policies
SAMPLES
1. Is it true that my samples will be liquefied (i.e. lysed completely)
if I deposit it to the AMCC?
Now, it is time to become a scientist and leave superstition behind: The
AMCC maintains the tissue in cryogenic freezer, i.e. using the vapor of
liquid nitrogen, which means that your tissue samples will be FROZEN
SOLID!
The only reason your tissue would be lysed is if you have put them in
lysis buffer yourself before donating it to the AMCC. In this case, we freeze
both tissue and buffer, since both are equally valuable for DNA
extraction.
AMCC and lysis buffer:
The AMCC usually recommends the use of lysis buffer for preservation of
blood and certain tissues in the field, if you are not using a dryshipper
(see: Field collection kit). If you
have a solid piece of tissue, the buffer will ABSOLUTELY not dissolve your
tissue for a short time spent in the buffer. BUT, being a lysis buffer, if
the tissues are left at room temperature in buffer too long, not only will
you run the risk of growing unsavoury things in your vial, but the buffer
might actually damage the DNA of your sample as it keeps on lysing. Also, if
your tissue consists of small fish fins, or any other such delicate samples,
chances are that it will dissolve in the buffer. Don't throw everything away,
however, the broth might still be usable!
2. Do you accession DNA extracts?
YES! A DNA extract is just as much of a voucher as a skeleton in a drawer!
Imagine how many mistakes on GenBank could be debunked if the researchers had
kept their DNA in a proper way.
SERVICES
Will I have to pay for any of the services provided by the AMCC? (i.e.
field kits, accession, loans, shipping)
That is the best part: ABSOLUTELY NOT.
ALL the services provided by the AMCC, from accessioning samples to
shipping them on loan, or providing you with field collection kits are
absolutely FREE.
Charges might only occur if shipping in difficult area such as South
America and Mexico and the Middle East.
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