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AAV Safety

AAV vectors are biosafety level 1, and consist of recombinant transgene sequences (e.g. marker or human genes) flanked by the AAV inverted terminal repeats. The removal of the majority of viral structural genes renders the vector replication-defective and dependent on an AAV helper virus.

AAV cultures are normally provided as purified viral particles in phosphate buffered saline at a concentration in the 1012 particles/ml range. The viral stock consists of particles containing the vector genome (full capsids) and a variable number of empty viral capsids in PBS. Other trace components present include, but are not limited to, inorganic salts, vitamins and other nutrients, human cellular proteins, carbohydrates, amino acids and fats. The material is normally shipped and stored frozen.

AAV Virus Handling & Storage

All viral vectors are shipped frozen on dry ice and should be stored at -80° C upon receipt and for long term storage. Vectors can be stored for short periods of time at -20 or +4°C. Whenever possible, vectors should be aliquoted into single use portions to avoid repeated freeze/thaw cycles. Please aliquot in at least 10ul per tube and use low protein binding tubes to avoid loss of virus.

Vectors are ready to use upon shipment. If you need to dilute the virus, you may use PBS, but do so ONLY prior to use. Do not dilute unless ready to use.