Overview

Harvard University and Allied Minds have partnered to create CryoXtract Instruments, LLC to commercialize a robotic system that allows for the automated retrieval of multiple frozen aliquots from a single vial of a frozen biological sample. CryoXtract’s unique Frozen Sample Aliquotting System is designed to serve the specific needs of biorepositories and biobanks, providing them with a tool to disseminate their serum and plasma samples without exposing them to freeze-thaw cycling – thus, yielding improved sample integrity, as well as critical time, labor and space savings.

When collecting biological tissue and fluid specimens to support research in areas such as biomarkers, nutrition and functional genomics scientists often lack the physical resources to perform immediate analyses. Freezing biological samples is a ubiquitous method for protecting the integrity of the collected biological samples and preserving their fidelity during long-term storage while resources are made available for the required research analyses; for example, some proteins, RNA, and tissues from biopsy or surgery degrade if not frozen, small molecule compounds in DMSO absorb water vapor, and cell life is prolonged by freezing.

All current methods of processing these frozen samples require that they be thawed before aliquots can be prepared; which presents a set of problems to biorepositories and researchers. Repeated freeze-thaw cycling is time-consuming and can result in sample degradation that is detrimental to the fidelity of the specimens. The freeze-thaw cycling is particularly challenging for biomarker research when deciding whether a biomarker was present but no longer there. Furthermore, with regulatory bodies such as the U.S. FDA demanding stronger assurances of sample integrity in clinical trial data, minimizing or eliminating repeated cycles of freeze-thaw will ensure the highest quality samples reach the laboratories. In many cases, then, biorepositories and biobanks opt to aliquot before freezing specimens, which increases their storage space requirements and the associated operating costs.

By eliminating the need to thaw a sample before extracting aliquots, CryoXtract’s robotic system makes it possible for biorepositories and biobanks to:

• Maintain biological stability and integrity of frozen samples,
• Reduce significantly the time it takes to obtain aliquots, and
• Improve operational costs

Uses for the technology include:

• Serum & plasma, cells,
• Small molecule compounds in DMSO and
• Frozen tissues (a “macro dissection”)

There are more than 500 million stored samples in the U.S. - the majority being frozen liquid specimens, including whole blood, blood components, urine, sperm, eggs, and DNA. These frozen biospecimens are found in biorepositories, biobanks, diagnostic labs, commercial research labs, and non-profit organizations such as hospitals and university research laboratories. In addition to clinical practice and research uses, frozen specimens are routinely collected and stored in the dairy and food industries, and in the chemical and biochemical industries. These samples are used to document the quality of each batch of production, and genetic materials are collected for preservation and future developmental uses.

The technology behind CryoXtract’s Frozen Sample Aliquotting System was developed by Dale Larson while at the Harvard University Medical School in collaboration with John Slusarz of the Harvard Medical School and Dr. Jeffrey Ruberti, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, and others at Northeastern University. Mr. Larson currently is Director of Biomedical Engineering at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. and is leading the technology’s development.