To control the contents of your laboratory freezer you first need to know what's in it!

In an age where we fear random attacks at the hands of just a few unbalanced individuals, few prospects are more unsettling than the widespread release of biological agents—toxins or pathogens that can be silent and unseen killers.  A master’s thesis at the Naval Postgraduate School examines the problem of the “biosecurity of select agents and toxins.”  Part of the study looked at practices at a major research hospital in Texas.  They found that researchers were surprised at the contents of their own laboratory freezers.  Where did those agents come from?  The conclusion attributed their presence “to legacy inventories that occurred as generations of research scientists occupied similar laboratory spaces within the institution.”