Europe's largest biorepository - Biobank Graz (Graz, Austria) has reported on its use of sample storage consumables and data management software from Micronic Europe 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. Over the medium to long term this is expected to contribute to an improvement in the quality of healthcare available to the general population. Whilst Biobank Graz primarily services Medical University Graz internal academics, it also offers its services to external academic and industrial partners within the framework of research collaborations. Biobank Graz collection of over 5 million human samples is based on many 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 commented '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 -80° C '. A key determinant of our selection was that Micronic laser etched tube codes proved most stable to a barrage of tests including temperature stability, solvent / chemical resistance, moisture ingress and impact / wear - a fact borne out that we have only experienced an incredible 1 unreadable code in over 100,000 stored samples over the last 3½ years '. She added 'Our scientists have also appreciated the flexibility and ease-of-use of Micronic's tube scanning and data management software together with the excellent support provided by the company'.

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. 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 unique 2D code on the bottom of each tube provides an easy and unambiguous means of storing and identifying samples. The optimised internal shape of each Micronic sample storage tube ensures the lowest possible dead volume and maximum sample recovery. Designed to fit 96 individual tubes into a standard footprint rack optimises use of valuable freezer space and ensures automation compatibility.