Depositing moss strains in the International Moss Stock Center

We encourage you to deposit your own moss strains in the IMSC. Protecting the exchange of valuable plant material will promote the research community active in the field of moss research and strengthen the scientific field of moss research at large.

Storing at IMSC guarantees that moss lines described in publications will be available in the long term. The samples will be stored in the gas phase of liquid nitrogen at temperatures below -135°C in suitable containers. The security of the storage will be monitored and documented.

Safe deposit procedure

Please contact us via E-mail (IMSC@uhura.biologie.uni-freiburg.de) for depositing your moss strains in the IMSC.

Upon arrival of the moss lines in Freiburg the axenity will be tested. Preculture under special conditions will prepare the plants for the freezing procedure. After a controlled freezing process, each strain will be stored in the gas phase of liquid nitrogen at about -156 °C. If requested two samples will be prepared and frozen, and after 2 weeks one of the samples will be thawed, cultured and sent back to the proprietor for testing (regeneration, axenity).

A trackable IMSC accession number which may be used for publication purposes is assigned to all the samples stored in the IMSC. 

At the request of the storing party moss lines will be made available to the moss community and integrated into our public “available strains” list. 
Nevertheless all material forwarded to the IMSC remains the property of the storing party. Interested parties will have to send their requests directly to the storing party. The IMSC will neither release the material to third parties without authorized written consent of the storing party nor use it in any other way as long as the storing party does not explicitly instruct otherwise.

Safe deposit prices

The IMSC is a non-profit research facility residing at the University of Freiburg. All prices stated below are calculated on a cost price basis and cover the direct operating expenses of the requested services. 

In the first year of safeguarding the IMSC charges 100 € per stored sample. This includes the test for sterility, precultivation of the plants (preparation for storing), freezing procedure and storage for the first 12 months.

Preparation of two samples and sending back one of the samples 14 days after the freezing procedure will cost another 30 € + shipping costs.

An annual fee of 50 € will be charged per plant for long term storage after the first 12 months.

Depositors may request the termination of their deposit at any time. The IMSC will destroy the material at IMSC´s facilities for an additional fee of 20 € upon receiving written instructions from the depositor. Alternatively the plants will be thawed in IMSC upon request and the material shipped back to the depositor for a fee of 30 € + shipping costs.

Thanks to a sponsorship by the Centre for Biological Signalling Studies (bioss) we are able to store
the next incoming 48 plants free of charge for the first year of storage. 

Contract on the storage of biological material

For further details concerning the depositing conditions please check out the contract on the storage of biological material (english/german) or contact us (IMSC@uhura.biologie.uni-freiburg.de) if you have any questions.