This is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agriculture Research Service (ARS) National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation (NCGRP) Cryogenic Storage Vault in Ft. Collins, CO on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013.
The vault currently operates more than 45 cryogenic tanks that hold animal germplasm, plant tissue culture, and seeds that are stored at -196 °C (-321 °F) in liquid storage or to -193 C. (-315 °F) in vapor storage degrees centigrade (-321 °F). NCGRP is the largest agricultural gene bank facility in the U.S. The NCGRP staff conducts groundbreaking research to develop more efficient and effective means for preserving plant and animal germplasm, and for better understanding the genetic structure of these invaluable materials. The research findings, preservation techniques, and specialized technology developed by the NCGRP have been adopted by gene banks around the world: many international scientists travel to the NCGRP for research and training. USDA photo by Lance Cheung. Original public domain image from Flickr
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