[3dem] Advice needed on cryo Dewars

[Mazdak Radjainia]

Dear Karim,

I've send samples from New Zealand to Europe on three occasions (4
dry-shippers in total), which is probably as far as anyone will ever ship
grids. I had concerns but it works remarkably well. We used World Courier
for shipping our CXR-100s because FedEx New Zealand wouldn't do it. Couple
of lessons I learned along the way include:

1. Be careful with how you secure your grid boxes. I put my grids in
circular boxes, which I locked with a handling rod like the one you find
here (item 71165-50 at
http://www.emsdiasum.com/microscopy/products/grids/accessories.aspx). All
my grids fell out the first time I send samples to NeCEN. I think thermal
expansion/contraction and vibrations during transport can cause the screws
to become undone. Fortunately, we had enough uncontaminated areas left
despite the grid sitting completely dry at the bottom of the Falcon tube!
2. Dry-shippers conform with IATA regulations and you can take them as
carry-on but it's best to check with your airline and let them know.
Singapore Airlines was fine with it.
3. Consider buying a hard case for your dry-shipper particularly if you are
of Middle-Eastern appearance as much as I enjoyed having an entire subway
train section during Munich's morning rush hour to myself. Might not work
as well in let's say NYC and 'Fragile'/'This way up' stickers don't mean
much to airport staff.

Overall, frozen grids are a lot more resilient than I thought. The seal on
one of my dry-shippers had been broken and someone had clearly looked
inside at some stage in transit. Still no issue, which means that you can
refrain from placing a mouse trap on top of your samples as tempting as it
is.

Anyway, good luck!

cheers
Mazdak


On 4 February 2015 at 01:55, Karim benzerara <karim.benzerara at impmc.upmc.fr>
wrote:

> Hello
>
>
>
> We will perform x-ray microscopy observations on cryo-samples deposited on
> TEM grids and prepared by plunge and freeze (something like 20-30 grids).
> We will prepare the samples in Paris and we will send them by FEDEX to
> Berkeley. Would you recommend a specific DEWAR that will hold the trip and
> keep our samples frozen for several days? What volume should I go for? What
> brand? We are very new to this so apologize for the basic question.
>
>
>
> Thank you very much
>
>
>
> Karim Benzerara
>
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