Mihalko, Hanna2012-07-242012-07-242012-04-18https://hdl.handle.net/11299/128832Faculty mentor: Dr. Stephen HawleyCryopreservation, the process by which cells are preserved by cooling to sub-zero temperatures, provides a prolonged, efficient, and effective storage option for cells within research environments. Also, cryopreservation is incredibly important within medicine, providing greater patient access, manufacturability, and product safety and quality [1]. However, cryopreservation may cause damage to cells during the freezing stage [2,3]. Identification of specific strains of cyanobacteria that can be cryopreserved with high viability would be beneficial for biotechnology work. Dr. Stephen Hawley is carrying out a research program that will address the economic feasibility of producing specific compounds with engineered photosynthetic bacteria. He has purified five strains of cyanobacteria from the twin cities area. The phenotypic traits of the strains are being tested for experimental tractability within biotechnology work. The specific phenotypic trait tested within this project is recovery after cryopreservation using two different cryopreservatives: DMSO and glycerol. The five isolated cyanobacteria strains are tested using basic laboratory cryopreservation methods to identify which cryopreservative leads to the greatest revival for each strain after freezing [2].en-USCollege of Biological SciencesInstitute on the EnvironmentPresentation