Sheffield University has recently acquired state of the art bio-repository facilities, at the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
The project is supported by a grant from the Wolfson Foundation and Hefce, through the university's recent SRIF-3 bid.
The bio-repository is a core facility for the medical school and will provide researchers with premium quality samples for translational research.
Each blood sample from parents recruited into a variety of clinical trials, can be processed from a single tube into the standard 96 tube format from Micronic, using bespoke automation designed specifically for the project.
Micronic tubes were chosen for the project as they could not only provide the most data for long-term storage in their tubes, but they were able to develop a 0.5ml screw cap tube, in a very low profile rack for the project, which is now available as a standard product in their expansive range.
The main exercise will be to split serum and plasma samples into 100ul aliquots, thus ensuring the most efficient use of each sample, while removing the need for unnecessary freeze thaw cycles.
A screw cap ensures safe storage in either mechanical or liquid nitrogen freezers.
It is anticipated that the samples in the bio-repository will be stored for a minimum of 15 years.
Therefore the utmost importance has been placed on maintaining sample quality.
For efficient retrieval of samples, the bio-repository database records a plethora of information on the location of each tube.
Each sample has a unique identity and address, which comprises of barcodes, colour codes and geographical location.
Each tube has a unique 2D barcode, and has co-ordinates within the rack; a unique barcode identifier on the rack; and a unique identifier for the location within the freezer/nitrogen tanks, where racks are stored.
In its present form the bio-repository database contains two main components.
The first, tracks the movement of the processed samples from the robot to a temporary storage area in Sheffield.
The second extends the functionality of the database and tracks the movement of samples from the temporary storage area in Sheffield to a long term storage area.
