Cryopreservation – News and Features

The Medical Research Council has made significant progress in implementing the measures outlined in last year’s Strategy for UK Life Sciences, according to a progress update published by the Government.

Researchers funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) are to conduct the largest ever study of the genetics relating to lung disease.

Goal of the project is to develop an ethical, efficient and sustainable system for obtaining, processing and sharing biospecimens and data.

In this study researchers from Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology attempt an initial comparison of two independent factors: freezing rates and cryopreservation.

The cryopreservation method described in this paper provides a continuous and substantial source of reticulocytes, possibly a first step to achieve the continuous in vitro culture of P. vivax.

The consortium is coordinated by Prof Louise Kenny at University College Cork, Ireland and driven by two companies, Pronota NV of Belgium and Metabolomic Diagnostics Ltd. of Ireland.

This paper aims to describe the biobank logistics and how the biological samples are collected, handled, shipped and stored.

The study strongly suggests that special collection tubes are necessary for RNA stabilization and they should be used for establishing new biobanks.

NovoPath, Inc. announces NovoBioBank, which operates as either a stand-alone or integrated system, seamlessly interfacing with Laboratory Information Systems and Clinical Research Information Systems.

The €1 million matching grant by the Luxembourg government will see WaferGen expand its European operations.