Long Term Storage and Precision Dispensing of Precious Liquids

贵重液体的长期储存和精确分配

• 批准号: 7496476
• 负责人: GORDON Ian ROBERTSON
• 金额: $ 42.19万
• 依托单位: ARCHIVEX, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-04-01 至 2010-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7496476
• 关键词: Aliquot; Archives; Area; Arts; Biological Sciences; Characteristics; Collaborations; Complement; Complementary DNA; Complex; Computer software; DNA; Data; Databases; Development; Disadvantaged; Ensure; Equipment; Equipment and supply inventories; Forensic Medicine; Frequencies; Funding; Genetic; Genomics; Genotype; Goals; Injection of therapeutic agent; Label; Laboratories; Laboratory Research; Lead; Liquid substance; Manuals; Marketing; Methods; Molds; Operative Surgical Procedures; Performance; Phase; Plastics; Preparation; Prevention; Price; Printing; Process; Productivity; Proteins; Public Health; Qualifying; Rare Diseases; Rate; Research; Research Personnel; Resistance; Resources; Risk; Robot; Sampling; Secure; Site; Solid; Source; Standards of Weights and Measures; Sterilization for infection control; System; Technology; Testing; Time; Touch sensation; Update; aqueous; base; cost; density; design; disease phenotype; evaporation; experimental analysis; hospital laboratories; human disease; improved; innovation; microbial alkaline proteinase inhibitor; novel; prospective; prototype; research study; sample collection; user-friendly

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Precious liquid samples such as aqueous genomic DNA are the bedrock for immense efforts currently underway to better understand associations between disease phenotype and genotype. These efforts promise to pave the way to better prevention and treatment of human disease. Many laboratories maintain archives of thousands of such precious samples for years at a time while they pursue better understanding of both common and rare diseases. Current methods for managing precious liquid samples are fraught with problems, including poor inventory control, poor ability to search inventory without directly accessing samples, constant sample concentration changes due to evaporation, excessive time required to aliquot samples, and samples becoming lost, mislabeled, or contaminated with significant frequency. The goal of this project is to develop and commercialize a system for long term storage of precious liquids that eliminates or significantly reduces all of these problems. This system stores liquids in standardized containers with machine-readable tags for unambiguous identification. An automated precision dispenser which does not require pipette intrusion ensures sample integrity while dispensing microliter aliquots of precious liquid. An interface between the dispensing equipment and an archived-liquid database application will allow laboratories to conveniently maintain accurate inventory control and facilitate improved experiment planning. This workflow-based system will increase the efficiency and reduce the error rate of genomic research by ensuring that the precious liquid samples are less time consuming to inventory and access, are contamination-free, maintain their concentration levels, and are correctly and positively identified. When completed, the system will be commercialized by marketing it to life- science laboratories, forensic laboratories and hospitals. In Phase 1 of this project, key inventions were built and tested with excellent results proving feasibility: (1) the compact long-term storage and dispensing container maintains precious liquid in an evaporation and contamination resistant manner; (2) the user-friendly dispensing mechanism can deliver 1-1500¿l aliquots touch-free with state-of-the-art precision; and (3) a user- friendly archived-liquid sample tracking database application was planned with the input of prospective customers using Agile Software methods. During Phase 2 of the project, the technology risk of manufacturing this novel liquid storage container with unique and permanent identification will be reduced (Specific Aim 1), commercial versions of the semi- and fully-automatic Precision Dispensing System will be designed and built (Specific Aim 2), and the workflow-based liquid sample tracking database will be built and integrated with the storage cartridges and precision dispensing equipment (Specific Aim 3).These early versions of the commercial equipment will be Beta tested in a nationally known genetics core resource laboratory. During Phase 3 using other funds this fully developed novel system will be introduced to the commercial marketplace. Research laboratories in the U.S. and worldwide store thousands of precious liquid DNA samples but use inefficient and error-prone ways to manage them. Archivex is developing an integrated system for storing, dispensing and inventorying precious liquids which will be convenient and affordable, will pay for itself through reduced labor costs, and will lead to improved public health by increasing the productivity and effective collaboration of laboratories. The hardware will ensure the integrity of the stored liquids and enable contamination-free precision dispensing, while the database application will allow researchers to better take advantage of their full sample collection, including more efficient analysis of experimental outliers

描述（由申请人提供）：珍贵的液体样本（例如水性基因组 DNA）是目前正在进行的巨大努力的基础，这些努力旨在更好地了解疾病表型和基因型之间的关联，这些努力有望为更好地预防和治疗人类疾病铺平道路。实验室多年来一直保存着数千个此类珍贵样本的档案，同时他们寻求更好地了解常见和罕见疾病。目前管理珍贵液体样本的方法充满了问题，包括库存控制不力、在不直接的情况下搜索库存的能力差。访问该项目的目标是开发一种用于长期储存贵重液体的系统并将其商业化。该系统将液体存储在带有机器可读标签的标准化容器中，以便明确识别，无需移液器侵入，可确保样品的完整性，同时分配微升。分配设备和存档液体数据库应用程序之间的接口将使实验室能够方便地保持准确的库存控制并促进改进的实验计划，这种基于工作流程的系统将提高基因组研究的效率并降低错误率。通过确保珍贵的液体样品的库存和获取耗时更少，无污染，保持其浓度水平，并得到正确和积极的识别。完成后，该系统将通过向生命科学实验室销售来实现商业化。在该项目的第一阶段，建造并测试了关键发明，并取得了证明可行性的优异结果：（1）紧凑的长期储存和分配容器以防蒸发和防污染的方式保存贵重液体；用户友好的分配机制可以提供 1-1500¿ l 以最先进的精度实现免接触等分；(3) 在项目的第二阶段，根据潜在客户的输入规划了一个用户友好的存档液体样品跟踪数据库应用程序。制造这种具有独特和永久标识的新型液体储存容器的技术风险将降低（具体目标1），将设计和建造商业版本的半自动和全自动精密分配系统（具体目标2），基于工作流程的液体样本跟踪数据库将被建立并与存储盒和精密分配设备集成（具体目标3）。这些早期版本的商业设备将在全国知名的遗传核心资源实验室进行Beta测试。 3 利用其他资金，这一完全开发的新型系统将被引入商业市场。美国和世界各地的研究实验室存储了数千份珍贵的液体 DNA 样本，但 Archivex 正在开发一种集成系统，但管理它们的方式效率低下且容易出错。分配和盘存贵重液体将是方便且负担得起的，将通过降低劳动力成本来收回成本，并将通过提高生产力和实验室存储的有效协作来改善公共卫生。硬件将确保存储的完整性。液体并实现无污染的精密分配，而数据库应用程序将使研究人员能够更好地利用其完整的样品收集，包括更有效地分析实验异常值