ISBER 2010 Attendees Gain a Preview of Novel Frozen Sample Aliquotter
21-May-2010
Boston, Massachusetts – Attendees at the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories Annual Meeting (ISBER 2010), held May 11-14, 2010 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, gained a preview of CryoXtract’s novel automated Frozen Sample Aliquotter, which has been designed to optimize the processing of banked biological samples and protect the integrity of these valuable frozen biospecimens. Dale Larson, the principal investigator whose team developed the initial technology while at Harvard Medical School, presented a poster on the development of the technology and was a member of a panel addressing innovative preservation technologies improving commercialization of human biospecimens during which Mr. Larson expanded on the potential of the Frozen Sample Aliquotter.
“Repeated freeze/thaw cycles may degrade critical biological molecules such as RNA and proteins, which, in turn, may damage the integrity of biospecimens critical to research. Best Practices advanced by ISBER and other leading organizations thus recommend minimizing sampling frequency to avoid or reduce potential molecular damage from freeze/thaw cycles. The automated Frozen Sample Aliquotter has been designed to meet the needs of modern biobanking. It enables the automated extraction of multiple frozen aliquots from one vial of frozen biospecimen without exposing it to freeze/thaw cycling. This increases overall sample quality, utilization of frozen biological specimens and process efficiency while reducing cost and administrative burden for biorepositories and biobanks of all sizes,” explained Mr. Larson, currently Director of Biomedical Engineering at the Chares Stark Draper Laboratory, Cambridge, MA.
“We are extremely pleased with the very positive response the Frozen Sample Aliquotter received during the conference,” commented Jorge de Dios, CryoXtract’s General Manager. “This response, coupled with Dale being presented the ISBER Biobanking Poster Award for outstanding research in biobanking, serves as confirmation that we are delivering real solutions that meet the very real needs of biorepositories, biobanks and labs.”
The engineering team under Mr. Larson is now designing a next stand-alone proof-of-concept system which will add functionality and automation to the current system. It is expected that 2 such next generation systems will be deployed later in the year to complete independent 3rd party reproducibility and diversity testing.
About CryoXtract Instruments, LLC
CryoXtract is developing a robotic Frozen Sample Aliquotter that allows for the retrieval of multiple frozen samples from a single frozen biospecimen without exposing the source specimen to the thaw process. The Company’s novel automation technology will improve frozen sample processing, protect the viability of frozen samples after cores have been extracted, and improve lab economics. CryoXtract has been funded by Allied Minds, Inc., a private investment corporation. For more information, please visit www.CryoXtract.com
About Allied Minds, Inc.
Allied Minds is a seed investment company creating partnerships with select universities to fund corporate spin-offs resulting from successful early stage technology research. By providing corporate development support as well as funding, Allied Minds aims to guide early stage companies to commercial success, thereby generating value for all stakeholders. For more information, logon to www.alliedminds.com
For more information:
Jorge de Dios
General Manager, CryoXtract
(703) 338-3361
jorge.dedios@alliedminds.com
“Repeated freeze/thaw cycles may degrade critical biological molecules such as RNA and proteins, which, in turn, may damage the integrity of biospecimens critical to research. Best Practices advanced by ISBER and other leading organizations thus recommend minimizing sampling frequency to avoid or reduce potential molecular damage from freeze/thaw cycles. The automated Frozen Sample Aliquotter has been designed to meet the needs of modern biobanking. It enables the automated extraction of multiple frozen aliquots from one vial of frozen biospecimen without exposing it to freeze/thaw cycling. This increases overall sample quality, utilization of frozen biological specimens and process efficiency while reducing cost and administrative burden for biorepositories and biobanks of all sizes,” explained Mr. Larson, currently Director of Biomedical Engineering at the Chares Stark Draper Laboratory, Cambridge, MA.
“We are extremely pleased with the very positive response the Frozen Sample Aliquotter received during the conference,” commented Jorge de Dios, CryoXtract’s General Manager. “This response, coupled with Dale being presented the ISBER Biobanking Poster Award for outstanding research in biobanking, serves as confirmation that we are delivering real solutions that meet the very real needs of biorepositories, biobanks and labs.”
The engineering team under Mr. Larson is now designing a next stand-alone proof-of-concept system which will add functionality and automation to the current system. It is expected that 2 such next generation systems will be deployed later in the year to complete independent 3rd party reproducibility and diversity testing.
About CryoXtract Instruments, LLC
CryoXtract is developing a robotic Frozen Sample Aliquotter that allows for the retrieval of multiple frozen samples from a single frozen biospecimen without exposing the source specimen to the thaw process. The Company’s novel automation technology will improve frozen sample processing, protect the viability of frozen samples after cores have been extracted, and improve lab economics. CryoXtract has been funded by Allied Minds, Inc., a private investment corporation. For more information, please visit www.CryoXtract.com
About Allied Minds, Inc.
Allied Minds is a seed investment company creating partnerships with select universities to fund corporate spin-offs resulting from successful early stage technology research. By providing corporate development support as well as funding, Allied Minds aims to guide early stage companies to commercial success, thereby generating value for all stakeholders. For more information, logon to www.alliedminds.com
For more information:
Jorge de Dios
General Manager, CryoXtract
(703) 338-3361
jorge.dedios@alliedminds.com
