Biocision has released the Coolbox, a cooling and freezing system for all-day, ice-free temperature control of biomedical samples.
The Coolbox systems come with a reusable cartridge that gives researchers a portable method for achieving unlimited cooling duration without the temperature variability and contamination risks associated with ice- or gel-based products.
Unlike sealed plastic coolers, which require refreezing overnight, Coolbox provides unlimited cooling duration by simply switching cartridges.
The cartridges consist of a gel pack with a thermo-conductive alloy shell, which enables fast recharge in a standard -20C lab freezer.
A single cartridge provides four to 10 hours of ice-free cooling at 0.5C to 4C, depending on whether the Coolbox lid is off or on.
When a Coolrack is placed on the cartridge, the system provides ice-free temperature consistency, eliminating 'edge effect' that is found with plastic cooling boxes.
The compact design and ice-free technology make Coolbox suitable for use in tissue culture hoods, biosafety cabinets, GMP suites and in other situations where space is restricted or where ice could be a source of contamination.
The lightweight, fracture-proof construction means Coolbox is portable, facilitating its use for any biomedical sample collection and ensuring the protection of samples during transportation between laboratories.
'The Coolbox system can be used with either of the ice-free cooling cartridges or with ice, dry ice or liquid nitrogen as cooling sources,' said Brian Schryver, vice-president, research and product development at Biocision.
'Regardless of the coolant, all wells will be continuously within 0.1C of the cooling source.
'With five temperature ranges and a variety of thermo-conductive Coolrack tube or plate modules that can be inserted, Coolbox is a flexible option for benchtop cooling or freezing,' he added.
The Coolbox system accommodates a variety of thermo-conductive Coolrack and Coolsink modules for microfuge tubes, cryo vials, FACS tubes, mass spec vials, SBS-format multi-well plates and PCR plates, tubes and strips.
Each system kit includes one Coolbox, one Coolrack PCR (either 384- or 96-well) and one +2C cooling cartridge.
Additional +2C cartridges are available separately.
Iso-temperature control is offered during the entire cooling period and the thermo-conductivity of Coolrack PCR ensures the system will quickly equilibrate to +2C with less than 0.1C variation between wells, eliminating temperature inconsistencies between centre and outer rows.
In addition to Coolrack PCR384 and Coolrack PCR96, the Coolbox Microplate system is also compatible with all Coolsink plate modules that accommodate SBS format multi-well plates and Coolracks that hold SBS format tube arrays such as Coolrack 1ml x96 for 1ml storage tubes from Matrix, Micronics and others.
The Coolbox 30 system accommodates all 30-well Coolrack tube modules and comes with one 2C cartridge, an insulator pad and a red stage to be used with ice or dry ice.
