Bacteria Preservation with Froilabo

What is Bacteria Preservation?

Bacteria preservation is the process of treating and storing bacteria cultures for future use. Preservation of bacteria optimises cell viability for use at a later date, for example in research or diagnostics months or even years after sample collection.

Why is Bacteria Preservation Important?

If bacteria cultures were stored at room temperature, the cells would deteriorate or be at risk of creating variations over time. For research purposes, it is important that the samples are kept in as similar a condition as when collected for as long as possible. This means avoiding cell death or mutations. Generally, the best way to carry out bacteria preservation for long term storage is to freeze the samples and store them in ultra-low temperature freezers, to freeze dry them or use cryogenic storage systems.

How do we carry out Bacteria Preservation?

For short term storage such as weekly use, bacteria samples can be stored in sealed containers at 4 °C, however, for longer term storage bacteria must be frozen to minimise cell death over time. There are a few options for bacteria preservation and storage over time.

Bacteria Freezing

For optimal preservation of bacterial cultures, it is necessary to use a cryoprotectant. During the freezing process, water in the cells turns to ice. Not only can this damage the cell membranes, but the concentration of any solutes will increase in the remaining water risking destruction of the bacterial cells. To overcome these risks, cryoprotectants such as dimethylsulfoxide, proteins or glycerol are added to lower the freezing point of the cell.

Once the cryoprotectant has been added, samples should be aliquoted into tightly sealed tubes then quickly frozen down further to minimise the formation of ice crystals. The samples can then be stored in a low temperature freezer (-40 °C) for up to one year or an ultra-low freezer (-86 °C) for several years. It is important to note whilst cell activity is dramatically slower at these temperatures, it is not stopped completely so cell viability must be monitored over time.

To completely stop cell activity for bacteria preservation, samples should be cryogenically frozen and stored below -130 °C.

Freeze Drying

Freeze drying can also be used for the preservation of bacteria. A lyoprotectant is added to the sample to protect the bacteria during freeze drying. Water is then removed from the sample under vacuum. Complete removal of water means the sample can be stored at 4 °C. The exact conditions for freeze drying will change depending on the bacteria and the equipment used as methods cannot always be easily transferred.

Bacteria Freezing and Storage with Froilabo

Froilabo offer several storage solutions of the preservation of bacteria.

The Evolution range of low and ultra-low temperature freezers provides long term storage at -45 °C or -86 °C. With 3 volume options and a range of internal equipment such as shelving, drawers, and racks, you can optimise the freezer storage space to fit the requirements of your laboratory.

For efficiently freezing samples to low and ultra-low temperature, our Blast Freezers allow you to prepare samples for long term storage whilst minimising the risk of ice formation within samples that could destroy the bacterial cells.

Froilabo have a range of cryogenic storage systems to maximise bacteria preservation.  The Cryovita range includes cryogenic storage tanks, racking systems, dewars and shipping vessels for liquid nitrogen.

If you would like to find out more about our products for bacteria freezing and long term bacteria storage, please contact our sales team who will be happy to discuss the options best for your laboratory.

Keep in Touch

If you have enjoyed this article, be sure to sign up to our eNewsletter and follow us on social media using the links below.