ABOVE: By freeze-drying mouse sperm on weighing paper and sandwiching the paper between protective plastic sheets, researchers were able to successfully mail the samples between labs in Japan.
DAIYU ITO, UNIVERSITY OF YAMANASHI
With mouse models undergirding so much scientific research, scientists have a vested interest in developing techniques to safely store and transport sperm samples between labs. Currently, most methods rely on shipping sperm in glass vials packed on dry ice, but glass is both heavy—raising the cost of shipping—and prone to breakage. In addition, any delays in shipping can result in thawed and unusable samples. In search of a better option, a team of scientists in Japan recently sent mouse sperm that was freeze-dried onto simple weighing paper and stored between two plastic sheets by postcard roughly 200 kilometers, from Kyoto to Yamanashi, where the rehydrated sperm fertilized eggs and produced healthy baby mice.
Their new method, detailed in ...
