The Case for Upright Liquid Nitrogen Biorepositories

 The Case for Upright Liquid Nitrogen Biorepositories

by Del Williams

In the pharmaceutical and medical industries, cryogenic freezers are utilized as biorepositories for the long-term preservation of biospecimens such as tissue, blood, plasma, or urine. These biorepositories are essentially “libraries” where biospecimens are stored for clinical or research purposes. Consequently, biorepositories are vital for understanding diseases, genetics, developing prophylactic and therapeutic agents, and monitoring human population health including outcomes related to environmental exposures.

With so much at stake, the failure of a cryogenic freezer to properly maintain biological samples at the required temperatures can be potentially catastrophic and costly. In addition, personnel need to be protected when storing or retrieving samples that are stored at extremely low, cryogenic temperatures.

The challenge is that conventional options for biorepositories—traditional stainless-steel vats, or cryovats, that contain LN2, and compressor-based systems—pose significant disadvantages in terms of safety, reliability and temperature control.

Upright liquid nitrogen freezers are a third option that can improve both operator and sample safety, while offering greater reliability, along with adjustable temperatures down to -160°C and faster freeze times.

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