In recent posts, I’ve pointed out the tangible threats to preserving your valuable biological specimens and the many hidden costs of managing sample inventories. With the high stakes of supporting years of research, regulatory compliance and the immeasurable value of assets stored in biorepositories, we think the research community needs the most robust sample management systems available.  That is why BioTillion has developed the concept of “Preservation Intelligence” which we have implemented in our new ColdSIGHT™ solution.

What is “Preservation Intelligence” and Why Do You Need It?

The concept of “Preservation intelligence” is simple:  Collect information about the samples from the freezer and samples themselves. This will lead to a wiser use of your ultra low temperature (ULT) repository resources.

In a traditional biorepository, the value that can be assigned to the biological samples stored at ultra-low temperatures is heavily dependent on human operations and record keeping.  And as we all know, “To err is human.”  Reducing the dependency of human accuracy and efficiency is the main goal of “Peresevation Intelligence”

ColdSIGHT™ implements the “Preservation Inteligence” concept. It solves the human validation problem by using Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) to tag sample boxes.  Information about the location and temperature of the boxes is provided to sample management software. RFID tagging of the sample boxes allows seamless and continuous tracking of every biological sample in your ULT inventory.

Our new ColdSIGHT solution delivers the following Preservation Intelligence advantages for your biorepository.

Real time, Automatic Inventory

• Validate the ID and location of every box in the freezer, without opening the freezer (which exposes samples to damaging temperatures)
• Never lose track of, or misplace, sample boxes
• Eliminate human errors caused by misreading and misreporting sample labels
• Automatically maintain sample box inventory records and save countless hours of manual identification and recordkeeping 

Real-Time, 3D Temperature Mapping and Monitoring Inside the Freezer

• Safeguard samples with alerts of warming temperatures in the freezer
• Monitor 3D maps of freezer temperatures with up to 648 locations per freezer
• Track time that samples are exposed to potentially damaging temperatures outside freezer

Guided Sample Retrieval and Placement

• Use visual guidance to find sample box locations - no trial and error searching through freezers
• Use visual cues to return sample boxes to their proper locations
• Dramatically reduce sample handling time that exposes specimens to damaging temperatures outside the freezer
• Dramatically reduce freezer open door time that wastes energy and cost
• Easily locate/manage mixed sample inventories, allowing the most efficient ULT storage utilization and reduction of freezer capital cost

Automatic Chain of Custody Tracking and Audit Trails

• Report any change in the freezer inventory
• Update chain of custody records automatically whenever samples are accessed (with controlled freezer access)
• Continuously, accurately and automatically generate traceability records for regulatory compliance
• Save countless staff hours by automatically generating updated inventory records and audit trails

To find out more, contact us here.