BIRD: LOAN POLICY - TISSUES

RELATED LINKS

For information regarding loans from the Ornithology Skins and Eggs collection, Click Here.

For information regarding loans from the Ornithology Tissue collection, Click Here.

The ornithological tissue collection at the Marjorie Barrick Museum serves two groups: UNLV researchers and the scientific community at large. Much of the collection has been generated through the museums internal resources, and this portion of the collection is thus viewed primarily as a resource for UNLV researchers. However, the museum will gladly provide tissue samples obtained with these funds to other qualified researchers on the condition that those researchers be able to demonstrate that their project itself is generating at least some of the needed material. Alternatively, mutually beneficial exchanges (long and short term) can be arranged, if the Marjorie Barrick Museum collection can provide a substantial amount of hard-to-obtain material. Tissues obtained under federal or state grants are readily available to any researcher, provided that the requested material was not obtained for a specific project by a UNLV researcher.

Written requests for these materials should be directed to the curator. Requests must be on institutional letterhead. Student researchers must have the loan request co-signed by their advisor. Along with the request , please provide a brief description of the project, methods to be used, and justification for the amount of tissue requested. Tissues will not be provided until laboratory protocols have been worked out. By signing the loan request, researchers are agreeing to the following terms and conditions:

The researcher must provide a copy of their USDA Transport Permit before samples can be sent. This permit is required to possess imported tissues, and it is the obligation of researchers to obtain the permit. In addition, a copy of the current CITES permit must be provided if the request involves CITES I-III taxa.

• Neither loaned materials nor products produced from them can be transferred to second parties without written permission from the curator.

• The Marjorie Barrick Museum will bear the costs of shipping, if the material can be sent in buffer. The requester must bear the cost of shipping on dry ice, by providing a Federal Express account number.

• Unused portions of the tissues and isolated DNA must be returned to the Marjorie Barrick Museum. Vials must be clearly labeled with the original preparators initials and catalog number, species name, and type of DNA (mtDNA, genomic).

• Any published material that includes results based in total or in part on the Marjorie Barrick Museum specimens must include an acknowledgment of the Marjorie Barrick Museum - UNLV. Authors should send two copies of these published materials to the Curator.