lyophilizing leaf tissue

[Jeremy Coate]

Hi savy methodologists,

I need to lyophilize leaf tissue prior to shipping overseas. The tissue wil=
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be used for analysis of lipids, which are vulnerable to endogenous lipases,
so I am planning to collect the tissue into liquid N2, freeze dry and ship
on dry ice to try to ensure that these lipases don't have a chance to do
their thing. I have never used a lyophilizer and have concerns that I'm
using it incorrectly, and that the samples are thawing.

I'm using a Labconco FreeZone 18 freeze dryer with a bulk dryer unit on top=