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| Jerry Brand | |
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Professor Ph.D. Purdue University Office Bio 321 |
| Video PC Mac | |
| Jerry Brand is Director of the Culture Collection of Algae at the University of Texas at Austin (UTEX): web site www.utex.org. Much of his research involves the development of methods that optimize the efficiency of culturing living algae under laboratory conditions while stabilizing their genetic composition. Cryopreservation, the indefinite storage of living cells or whole organisms at ultra-cold temperatures, has been studied extensively by Dr. Brand and his associates, utilizing algal cultures in the UTEX Collection. This work has led to the development of protocols that allow over 1,300 different kinds of algae, approximately 2/3 of the strains in the UTEX Collection, to be cryopreserved. Current work is directed toward the investigation of reasons that some algal strains are recalcitrant to cryopreservation, in order to develop new protocols that expand the range of organisms that can be successfully stored under liquid nitrogen. In particular, causes of high mortality when algal strains are frozen at high culture density are being investigated. Collaborative work with Dr. Kenneth Diller and his associates in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UT-Austin involves an investigation of the relative effectiveness of dimethyl sulfoxide and methanol as cryoprotective agents. The long-term goal of Jerry Brand's research is to be able to stabilize the genetic integrity of virtually all strains of algae by storing living cultures at ultra-low temperatures, and to be able to apply new methods toward the successful cryopreservation of other organisms such as endangered plant species. | |
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