The cincinnati ZOO and botanical garden will conduct research to improve safety and efficiency of cryopreserving exceptional plant collections, with a focus on OAK species

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded the Zoological Society of Cincinnati, doing business as the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens, $853,040 on September 1, 2026, under the National Leadership Grants program (CFDA 45.312) to conduct research on cryopreserving exceptional plant collections with a focus on oak species.

The Cincinnati Zoo will assess and characterize factors affecting plant tissue culture collection and survival rates in cryopreserved plants that cannot be banked using conventional seed banking methods. The project will develop research-backed safety duplication protocols to enable collections to be backed up at multiple facilities. Results will be shared through publicly available online resources and databases to help practitioners at other institutions develop cryopreservation protocols tailored to their own exceptional plant collections.

Performance occurs in Cincinnati, Ohio, with a period of performance from September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2029. National Leadership Grants support projects addressing critical needs in the museum and library fields with potential to advance practice through models, tools, research findings, services, or alliances that can be widely used, adapted, scaled, or replicated.

The project will address the challenges of preserving exceptional plant species, those species which cannot be banked using conventional seed banking methods. To increase the success rate of survival in cryopreserved plants, project staff will assess and characterize varying factors of collecting plant tissue cultures. To ensure that collections can be safely backed up at more than one facility, project staff will develop research-backed safety duplication protocols. Project results will be shared online through publicly available resources and databases designed to help practitioners develop protocols tailored to their institution's collections of exceptional plants.