Participating Labs

Moody Lab, Department of Microbiology and Immunology

TSX60086A, approved January 2020

“Our lab studies the life cycle of human papillomaviruses… The
ULT freezer will be used to store samples we generate from
our studies.”

“Our ultra-low freezer no longer cools efficiently… This model is no
longer sold or supported, making it impossible to fix. We are
currently using a loaner ultra-low freezer and would like to reduce the
carbon footprint of our lab.”

Systems Genetics Core Facility, Department of Genetics

TSX60086A, approved January 2020

“The Systems Genetics Core Facility (SGCF) at the School
of Medicine (SOM) distributes the Collaborative Cross
(CC) genetic reference population to the UNC research
community and beyond.”

“To date, the departmental chair has graciously allowed the
SGCF to store samples in his lab’s -80 freezer…As such, the SGCF is looking to purchase its first ultralow temperature freezer to store these
valuable samples. While a freezer purchase is vital to the
mission of the SGCF, we would like to limit the environmental impact of adding such an energy-consuming piece of equipment to the UNC footprint.”

Palmer Lab, Department of Pharmacology

Stirling SU780XLE, approved January 2020

“The Palmer Laboratory studies combination therapy for the treatment of cancer… Our ULT freezer plays a central part in our work to develop superior combination of therapies for different patient subsets”

“By requiring less electricity, an energy-efficient ULT freezer
makes the most efficient use of public funds for medical
research.”

Jesse Raab Lab, Department of Genetics

Stirling SU780XLE, approved January 2020

“This is a new freezer for our new lab. This particular freezer is rather expensive compared to less efficient models, but has no compressor, a very long warranty, and uses very little energy. We also don’t have a
lot of space available to use for -80 storage and this model is
space efficient as well.”

Lockett Lab, Department of Chemistry

TSX40086A, approved May 2019

“Our lab develops 3D human tumor models to understand how the tissue microenvironment promotes aggressive cancer phenotypes.

The repeated failure of our freezer has resulted in a loss of a number of precious biological samples. We use our current freezer to store cell extracts for future analyses. [We are interested in this program] to replace our outdated freezer with one that is more environmentally friendly.”

Shaikh Lab, Department of Nutrition

TSX40086A, approved May 2019

“Our lab specializes in the study of how dietary fatty acids regulate immunological and metabolic responses in obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Our lab is committed to practicing efficiency and reducing our carbon footprint by all accessible means.”

Dr. Lishan Su Lab, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

TSX50086A, approved May 2019

“We utilize the mouse model where the engraftment of human hematopoietic stem cell in immunodeficient mice results to long-term normal human hematopoiesis with fully functional human immune system permissive for those human-specific lymphotropic viruses. We’ll use a ULT freezer to properly store chemicals, reagents and tissue samples for the relevant research.”

Helen Lazear, Department of Microbiology and Immunology

TSX60086A, approved May 2019

Our lab investigates factors that influence flavivirus pathogenesis. The freezer will be used to store viral stocks and mouse tissues. 

Unfortunately, science creates a lot of waste; this is unavoidable. We are an environmentally conscious lab that desires to limit our carbon footprint as much as is feasible through smart purchasing of equipment, recycling of consumable plastic, and conservative use of reagents.”

Robert Dowen Lab, Department of Biology and Physiology

TSX60086A, approved May 2019

“Our work is focused on understanding how organisms ultilize and regulate their energy stores. As a genetic laboratory, we have generated hundreds of mutant C. elegans strains, which we can store indefinately in ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers.

As a new laboratory, we would welcome the oppurtunity to be part of the Efficient Freezer Rebate Program, which would support us in our efforts to carry out a successful research program while employing responsible energy usage practices.”

Patrick Sullivan Lab, Department of Genetics

TSX50086A, approved February 2019

“We store animal and human DNA, RNA, tissue, and blood samples in our lab to perform genomic testing for our research. Purchasing a low energy usage freezer sounds like a win-win, as we’ll be utilizing this for several years as our research continues to grow. We believe this program is very important in helping the university become
greener, and we would love to be a part of that.”

Todd Cohen Lab, Department of Neurology

TSX60086A, approved February 2019

“Our lab focuses on neurodegenerative disease research including Alzheimer’s disease. We will mostly store cell lysates, mouse tissues, and human brain samples in the ULT freezer. This freezer rebate program will allow us to buy the model that not only fits our need for sufficient freezer space but also saves energy.”

BRIC Lab, Biomedical Research Imaging Center (BRIC)

TSX50086D, approved February 2019

“The BRIC runs multiple studies that focus on understanding human development and behavior through imaging. A ULT freezer
will allow us to have a dependable, long term space to keep
these samples while we continue to collect data.”

Benhabbour Lab, Department of Biomedical Engineering

TSX50086A, approved February 2019

“Development of novel tunable delivery platforms and polymer-based devices that can treat or prevent a disease.

Save on Energy costs, reduce carbon footprint, and also utilize the
cost contribution.”

Burks Lab, Pediatrics Department

TSX70086A, approved February 2019

“Our lab studies various aspects of food allergy. Our ongoing
clinical trials on oral and sublingual immunotherapy aim to
develop treatments for peanut, tree nut, egg, milk and other
food allergies. We believe incorporating sustainability by participating in this program will minimize our lab’s carbon footprint.”

Children’s Research Institute, Pediatrics Department

TSX60086D, approved February 2019

“The UNC Department of Pediatrics’ Children’s Research
Institute (CRI) supports researchers across UNC focused on
the improvement of children’s health. We are excited to have a first ever, centralized space devoted to pediatric research at UNC in
the newly renovated Mary Ellen Jones building, which we
will be occupying this spring. This will serve as a physical
hub complementing our virtual presence, and a place for
researchers focused on pediatric health to collaborate and
share critical resources. Having a new, energy efficient ULT
freezer will support this critical work, providing a shared
freezer for CRI samples and a resource for junior faculty
who are still acquiring funds to support their research.”

Jason Reed Lab, Biology Department

TSX50086A, approved October 2018

“We study the genetics and cell biology of plant growth and
development. The freezer will be used to store plant tissue
and RNA samples, bacterial strains, and antibodies and
other molecular biology reagents.”

David Lawrence, Pharmaceutical Sciences Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry Department

TSX50086A ULT, approved October 2018

“We are a chemical biology lab that develops tools to control biological processes with light. We store many biological and chemical samples at -80. We want to save money and be green!”

Dorothy Erie Lab, Chemistry Department

TSX60086A ULT, approved October 2018

“The Erie lab investigates protein-DNA interactions involved in the DNA mismatch repair pathway. Failures in mismatch repair are linked to various cancers. We will use the freezer to store our cells, proteins, DNA, and other biological samples. Doing our part will help RESPC achieve its goal of an energy-efficient campus. A new freezer will also give us peace of mind that a freezer failure that compromises years’ worth of research will likely not occur.”

BioSpecimen Processing Facility Core, Epidemiology Department

TSX60086A ULT, approved October 2018

TSX60086A ULT, approved January 2020

“We are a core lab on campus, whose primary goal is to process and store human biospecimens for large epidemiology studies and small and large clinical research studies. We support projects in all divisions of UNC including various departments in the School of Arts and Sciences, as well as in the Schools of Medicine, Public Health, and Dentistry. Before UNC initiated this program, we have already purchased 5 of these high-efficiency freezers to replace 14-year old REVCOs and we also purchased another three to expand our repository capacity. We purchased these energy-efficient freezers for 3 reasons: [1] Energy efficiency. [2] Enhanced performance during freezer opening and closing. [3] Larger capacity in the same footprint.”

Kerr Hall MicroIncubator, Eshelman Institute for Innovation

TSX40086A ULT, approved October 2018

“MicroIncubator for several life sciences research companies. Freezer will be used for storage for biological materials. Energy efficiency is incredibly important for environmental sustainability and we would be thrilled for the opportunity to contribute to such university and global efforts.”

Sam Lai Lab, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics

TSX50086A ULT, approved October 2018

“We are interested in carrying out freezer best practices, performing science in an environmentally-conscious mindset, and holding our inventory and reagent management to the highest standards.”

Matthew Hirsch Lab, Department of Ophthalmology / Gene Therapy Center

MDF-DU702VH-PA ULT, approved July 2018

“The work in our lab focuses on AAV gene therapy for ocular diseases, and our ULT freezer will be used to store virus, glycerol stocks of plasmids, and experiment generated cells and tissues. We are interested in this program because we see an opportunity to decrease the impact our research has on mother/father nature by decreasing the amount of energy we use on a day-to-day basis.” -Laura Conatser

Brian Strahl Lab, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics

TSX70086A5BB ULT, approved June 2018

“We keep an extensive variety of antibodies, plasmids, yeast strains and libraries in our -80s. These are, quite simply, invaluable to our research on the role of histone modifications. We seek to understand how post-translational modification of histone proteins contributes to the organization and function of chromatin. There are numerous direct connections of our work and important health issues, such as cancer.” -Jeff Jones

Lu Lab, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering

TSX40086A ULT, approved June 2018

“Our lab is working on biomarker discovery. We have to use ULT freezers to store valuable samples at -80C. This program helps us replace old freezers that are not energy efficient. I believe that my lab will greatly benefit from an updated and highly efficient ULT freezer.” -Kun Lu

Carter Lab, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics

TSX60086D ULT, approved May 2018

“We perform kinetic assays on synthetic enzymes expressed in and purified from E. coli. We use ULT freezers for storage of purified enzymes and bacterial stocks. This program will allow us to purchase our own ULT freezer while helping to reduce the energy usage of the university.” -Jessica Hobson

Toni Darville Lab, Pediatrics Department

TSX60086D, approved February 2018

“Being a chlamydia research lab, we store everything from our bacterial stocks to DNA libraries. We have samples from human cohort studies to mouse experiment samples. With having so many ULTs at various ages, we are continually looking at new and eco-friendly models. They are not always in the budget when a freezer goes down, but I believe it’s important to have the best and most efficient freezers. There is so much waste generated with research, we can’t always cut out waste, but if we can lessen our footprint with high efficiency equipment, it makes a big difference.” -Jenna Girardi