While ziplock bags are not guaranteed sterile, they are clean, cheap(ish) & generally don't cause issues for me. Place filter in ziplock bag, seal, place in another ziplock bag with the seal at the opposite end- just in case one seal doesn't work and you should avoid contamination & can place iceblocks to keep chilled (if required) beside the bag. Alternately, and more expensively, roll up your filters and place in 5-10ml sterile disposable centrifuge tubes. The bigger issue may be keeping the samples stable.

I would have a similar isue in the near future. To ship bacteria and micro-fungi from Brazil to Europe (Switzerland) that I can later re-cultivate them for further analysis. Anybody have experiences with thin (the shipment of microbes from Brazil)?

You can use plastic Petri dishes sealed with parafilm. The dishes are sterile and parafil will protect your filters from being contaminated.

Use a piece of sterile Whatman filter paper and dip it in bacterial culture and allow it to dry in LAF its self and then put it into sample collection sterile tubes. on the other hand you can also use the 1.5 ml cryotubes, fill with 1% LB or media agar and loop inoculate the culture and carry it where ever you want. there will not be any issue (unless visit non permissive temperature). its less then small finger.

One other thing you can do if you need to keep your filters chilled is to freeze your chill block to -80oC, assuming you have a freezer in your lab capable of this. place samples and chill block in a foam esky, pack gaps with paper (maybe add paper between samples and chill block to minimise freeze-thaw problems) and then freight. Do not pack the chill block until the morning you are sending the box. The pack stays cool much longer than standard freezer blocks.

To ship bacteria strains, I used sterile Whatman paper, dipped in bacterial culture, but I didn't let them dry (as long as they are not dripping, it's fine). The paper was placed in a piece of sterile Parafilm, folded tightly, then taped on a piece of cardboard, placed in an envelope, and shipped. Label carefully the strips. The instructions to recover the strains (media, antibiotic & concentration if necessary, temperature & incubation time, etc) were enclosed of course. I never had (as far as I know) any problem with contamination or recovery.

To ship filter membranes: fold the membrane in half (side with the bacteria trapped IN), and again, and again, using sterile tongs (metal tongs put in ethanol and flamed). You should end up with a small triangle which can be easily put inside a 1.5 mL sterile Eppendorf tube. Those tubes are small enough to be shipped in a bubble envelope easily if you don't need refrigeration of your samples. Label carefully.

Hope this help.

I should transport a couple of strains to another lab, so I wonder how long can the strains be stored at room temperature in the filter paper before they are reconstituted? Thanks for your help.

Sometimes, our envelopes took a week or so (up to 12 days) to arrive at their destinations. No issue has been reported concerning their regrowth after the trip.

If the parafilm is tight, it will protect the strains from contamination and desiccation.

Thanks!!

Many thanks for all contributions .

Could i use this protocol all strains? And do you recommend using the glycerolized culture for this protocol? Thanks from now.