Biological Expeditions
Plant & Animal Collection and Specimens Preservation
Natural History collections in general, that is botanical and zoological collections, are important resources in the fight to save lives and to improve health and safety of people around the World. The discovery of new chemical compounds derived from plants or animals, which will be later used for treatment of maladies, have been an ancient practice of mankind. Nowadays, most scientific researches in plants and animals, which include specimen identification and collection, in vitro propagation, DNA extraction, purification, amplification of molecular markers, isolation, purification, and characterization of secondary metabolites, and others, occur in Academia and are supported by, sometimes big, government grants.
Unfortunately, not all of us have immediate access to those discoveries and, which is more troublesome, the US Pharmacopeia (USP) neither have, in most cases, access to information, samples, or references about most natural resources -and their metabolites- that are widely in use now, not to mention access to those that may be the potential deal-breaker for a cure to cancer, just to use an example.
Founders and scientific colleagues and collaborators with The SAR Group, have over 20 years of experience in several Biological Science's fields. This experience is extended to: 1) securing collecting permits for all over the World; 2) plant and animal identification both in the field and at herbaria or museums; 3) sample collection; 4) plants and animals DNA extraction, purification, amplification, and sequencing; 5) use of general microscopy and scanning electron microscopy to process biological specimens; and 6) management of collection vouchers to preserve and maintain Natural History Collections, among others.
Some of the services that our group provide in this Category are:
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Plant Identification to Species Level
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Animal Identification to Species level
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Secure Collecting and Importation Permits of plants and animals
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Plants Collection and Classification from Anywhere in the World (includes tissue sampling and storage for DNA extraction)
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Animals Collection and Classification from Anywhere in the World (includes tissue sampling and storage for DNA extraction)
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Botanical Voucher Preparation and Storage
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Zoological voucher Preparation and Storage
