Europe's largest biorepository, Biobank Graz, has reported on its use of sample storage consumables and data management software to safeguard its blood, serum and plasma samples
Biobank Graz is a non-profit making service facility of the Medical University Graz, which supports the search for the underlying causes of disease and improvements in disease diagnosis and therapy.
Its collection of over 5 million human samples is based on years of preparatory work and on existing sample collections from the research projects of different clinics and institutes.
Dr Karine Sargsyan, COO of Biobank Graz said: "After a comprehensive evaluation of commercially available consumables we selected Micronic 0.75 ml and 1.2ml tubes together with screw caps and Roborack storage racks to provide high integrity, long-term storage of our human blood, serum and plasma samples at -80deg C." She added that a key determinant of their selection was that the laser etched tube codes were stable when subjected to a barrage of tests including temperature stability, solvent / chemical resistance, moisture ingress and impact. Micronic 0.75ml and 1.2ml sample storage tubes are manufactured from medical grade polypropylene in a fully automated Class 7 cleanroom environment ensuring they exhibit absolute product consistency, near zero contaminants and compliance with US and European Pharmacopoeia tests.
According to the company, the tubes resist many organic solvents (DMSO, methanol, dichloromethane), may be autoclaved clean and can be repeatedly freeze-thawed without loss of product performance.
A 2D code on the bottom of each tube provides an easy and unambiguous means of storing and identifying samples.
