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How this guide is organized, the four temperature bands used throughout, and the six rules that prevent most peptide handling problems.
Peptide Handling Guide is a reference for storing, handling and documenting research peptides in the laboratory. It follows material through its life in a lab: receiving, storing, aliquoting, preparing solutions, documenting, and verifying quality.
Six rules that prevent most problems
- Keep it dry until you need it. Lyophilized powder is far more stable than any solution. See Lyophilized Peptides.
- Keep it cold. −20 °C for sealed powder, −80 °C for solutions held long term. See Temperature Considerations.
- Never open a cold vial. Let it reach room temperature in a desiccator first. See Moisture and Humidity.
- Split once, thaw once. Aliquot solutions into single-use portions. See Aliquoting.
- Read the sequence. Met, Cys and Trp mean oxygen and light matter; Asn-Gly and Asp-Gly mean solution time matters. See How Peptides Degrade.
- Write it down. Lot, date, concentration, location, every thaw. See Laboratory Documentation.
The temperature bands
Every guide and compound sheet uses the same four bands, shown as coloured chips.
| Band | Equipment | Typical range | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| −80 °C | Ultra-low freezer | −70 to −86 °C | Archive stock and solutions that must be held for many months. |
| −20 °C | Freezer | −15 to −25 °C | The usual home for sealed lyophilized peptide and frozen aliquots. |
| 2–8 °C | Refrigerator | 2 to 8 °C | Short holds of working solutions and sealed powder in active use. |
| 15–25 °C | Controlled room | 15 to 25 °C | Transit and brief bench time only, dry and away from light. |
How the guides are organized
- ST · Storage fundamentals: degradation chemistry, temperature, light, moisture, freezing, short- and long-term storage.
- CT · Containers, labels & contamination: tubes and vials, labeling, aliquoting, contamination control.
- CC · Cold chain & receiving: shipping, receiving and storage equipment.
- SP · Research solution preparation: dissolving, solvents and solution stability.
- QA · Documentation & quality: records, COAs, HPLC, mass spectrometry, purity terms and traceability.
Each guide has a document ID, a bench card summarizing the key points, and a numbered reference list. Compound sheets add a sequence view that marks residues relevant to storage, and an evidence level that says how much of the advice is specific to that compound.
Tools
- Checklists: receiving, storage set-up, aliquoting, solution prep, COA review and monthly audit.
- Storage finder: a starting storage band from a few questions.
- Labels & log sheets: printable tube labels and thaw logs.
- Glossary and references.