Brooks Automation, BioCision recognized with ISBER’s prestigious award for CryoPod Carrier

The CryoPod^TM Carrier, jointly developed by Brooks Automation, a global provider of automated sample storage systems for compound management and biorepositories, and BioCision, LLC, a leader in advanced biomaterial sample handling and standardization tools, has won the 2015 New Product of the Year award from the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER). The award was announced at ISBER’s annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona.

The CryoPod Carrier is a portable, liquid nitrogen (LN2)-based system for the safe, reliable, and protected transport of cryogenic biospecimens.

“The CryoPod Carrier was clearly the most innovative product among this year’s entries,” said Phil Baird, principal, Daingerfield Consulting, and leader of ISBER’s award committee. “To handle and transport frozen biospecimens, researchers and clinicians often must rely on improvised methods that can be hazardous for the operator and introduce temperature fluctuations that can be detrimental to sample integrity. The CryoPod Carrier fulfills this unmet need in biosample preservation and management. It has wide application throughout the biobanking and biomedical industries,” he said.

Other judges described the product as “intuitive, elegant, unique, game changing, and versatile.”

“We’re honored to be recognized with ISBER’s prestigious award,” said Dusty Tenney, president of Brooks Life Science Systems. “The CryoPod Carrier solves the critical problem of maintaining the biospecimen cold chain of custody while transporting high-value samples for critical applications such as cellular therapeutics.”

"BioCision focuses on standardizing the handling and transport of valuable biological specimens and therapies," said Hugh Douglas, Chief Operating Officer of BioCision. “It is very rewarding to be recognized for this important technology knowing that ultimately, it is future patients and science that will benefit from this new ability to ensure specimens, vaccines and other important therapeutics are properly handled and maintained.”

The result of a 12-month joint development project, the patent-pending CryoPod Carrier absorbs LN2 and enables more than four hours of less than -150C temperature stability for cryogenically frozen biospecimens, keeping them below glass transition (Tg) temperature where biological activity may cease. The instrument features integrated monitoring and data logging that displays temperature, date, and time, as well as audible and visual alarms.

The CryoPod Carrier is lightweight and permits easy one-hand carrying for transporting samples between labs and buildings or around metro areas. It integrates with an optional automatic filling station that can be placed on a laboratory bench or floor. The filling station is a safer, single-button LN2 replenishing solution that is engineered to fully charge the CryoPod Carrier within 15 minutes without the need for direct LN2 handling by the operator.