I have to transport RNA (isolated with Qiagens RNeasy mini kit) to another research facility (about 1 hr drive away) to check quality and integrity on a tape station for RNAseq.
I have stored the RNA in the -80°C so far, but I cannot get hold on any dry ice for the transportation. Do you think transportation in regular ice will affect the quality/integrity?
What are your experiences with "short-term" transportation of RNA (without dry ice and liquid nitrogen)? Any tips/tricks?
Thank you!
You may try an ice-based cooling bath. There's a list at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cooling_baths
The one based on ice/CaCl2*6H2O looks attractive (never tried it myself though).
Hope it helps!
Thanks! I did the transportation with the samples on ice, and the resulting RIN was 9.1 - 9.4, so I don't think it affected much :-)
Birgitte,
I have done something similar to what you are suggesting in the past and did not obtain bad results. Be sure to use lots of ice enclosed in styrofoam cooler. A lot of the big name RNA isolation manufacturers also say that you can keep RNA at -20 for short storage, even though -80 is recommended for long term. Good luck!
-Antonio
I checked the RNA titre before and almost after 48 hr at 4°C but nothing happened.
It is risk to transport RNA for almost an hour journey without dry ice !. As you already know, RNA can easily degrade even in the ice block.
I guess the solution is to make ice by keeping water in small rubber container with cover in -20oC / -80oC and use it to transport the nucleic acid.
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