Antibiotic shelf life?

[Emmanuel Skoufos, Ph.D.]

"William C. (Bill) Johnson" <ez003195 at peseta.ucdavis.edu> writes:
>General question - how long do most antibiotics retain their effectiveness?
>
>Specifically - how useful is, say, the four year old tube of ampicillin I 
>found in the -20 freezer?  I've been told that most antibiotics in an 
>agar plate are only good for a few weeks, and now I wonder about our stocks.
>
>Thanks

Freezer stocks are usually good for up to six months at -20, one year at -80.
At least this is the guidelines we've been using.  You may want to try pouring
a couple of plates with your old amp and see whether amp sensitive bacteria
will grow.

Cheers,
Emmanuel



_______________________________________________________________________________

Emmanuel Skoufos, Ph.D.
Insect Molecular Biology Group
Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
Box 1527 
Heraklion, Crete 71110
Greece