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 | Research & Collections > Genetic Resources at the LSU Museum of Natural Science
LSU is a leader in vertebrate tissue preservation, and the museum's frozen tissues collection is the largest of its kind in the world. Given the increasing importance of molecular studies (which rely heavily on frozen tissues), the value of this collection is certain to increase in the future.
The collection regularly provides samples of tissues to U.S. and foreign scientists. These tissues are used for a wide variety of studies in forensics, epidemiology, conservation, wildlife management, comparative molecular genetics, and phylogenetics. Many tissue samples in the collection are from Neotropical species whose habitats have been disturbed or destroyed. Thus, we have a DNA (genetic) record of those organisms, even though the species themselves may be extinct in all or part of their former range.
Steve Cardiff teaching graduate student David Anderson how to collect a tissue sample from a bird. |
The Section of Genetic Resources was awarded support grants from the National Science Foundation in 1989 ($160,000), 1995 ($137,000), and in 2001 ($196,620). Over the last ten years, more than 350 scholarly articles, books, and theses have been generated based on materials in this collection. In 2002, we loaned 1094 tissues to researchers across the globe, in 2003, 1372 tissues, and in 2004, 1533 tissues. |
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