Cryopreservation of Newly Cultivated Thiovulum for the creation of a new model organism.

Thiovulum, the fastest bacteria known, are large sulfur-oxizing bacteria that have remained uncultivated since their first description 240 years ago. Recent work in the Volland lab achieved the first stable laboratory culture using fully artificial media. However, Thiovulum has yet to be successfully cryopreserved, a key step in maintaining and sharing cultures. This project will test a range of cryoprotectants, pre-freezing incubation times, and resuscitation methods to identify optimal conditions for long-term storage. The goal is to establish a reliable cryopreservation protocol that allows Thiovulum to be stored indefinitely and deposited in a recognized microbial culture collection.