Product Manager Cristiana Bercea expands on the current needs of ultra-low cold storage and how Azenta is rising to the challenge
Expert Bio:
Cristiana Bercea, PhD, is a Product Manager at Azenta Life Sciences. She began her career as a scientist in 2014, focusing on molecular biology in drug research. In 2023, Cristiana joined Azenta, where she works on technical communications, in-life product management, customer interaction, and product innovation.
Q: What is your current role at Azenta and what brought you there?
A: I started my career in 2014 as a scientist, with a focus on molecular biology in drug research. I joined Azenta in 2023 as a Product Manager, working on technical communications, in-life product management, customer interaction, and product innovation. I am directly responsible for our ambient temperature to -80°C automated storage product line, which consists of multiple configurations tailored to suit every customer’s needs—such as the SampleArc™ Automated Cold Storage and the BioArc™ Ultra Automated Ultra-Cold Storage Systems.
Q: What is driving the recent advances in the technology and automation of -80°C cold storage?
A: Over the last 25 years, small molecule compound management for drug discovery has led to organizations incorporating automation into research workflows, accelerating the process of new drug development and facilitating bringing them to the market. As technology and methods improved, researchers progressed from assaying tens of thousands of compounds in a screen to hundreds of thousands, which has further fed the need for high-throughput automation. Traditionally, much of the automated/semi-automated work has required sample storage at temperatures ranging from ambient to -20°C. However, more recent drug research using new modalities—such as large molecules and biologics—requires storage at far lower temperatures and benefits from automated sample storage.
By automating -80°C cold storage, organizations with applications, such as clinical trials, vaccine research, and many more, can accelerate their workflows and improve the quality of research. Most workflows still use manual mechanical -80°C units for sample storage; not many have incorporated automation. Fortunately, due to the recent interest from industry leaders, companies like Azenta have begun providing automated -80°C cold storage units.
The -80°C automated storage units are also being used further down the production chain to store finished products (e.g., sample knitting). Additionally, automated stores are being deployed into regulated environments and are assisting companies in meeting regulated processes and GxP requirements, including IQ, OQ; 21 CFR Part 11 compliance—making them even more desirable.
Q: How does automation in cold storage facilitate research?
A: Manual cold storage is the standard in many industries, but in certain areas it can create inefficiencies and bottlenecks that automated stores can alleviate. In drug discovery research, for example, automated cold storage can accelerate research by removing the need for labor-intensive processes, such as locating and retrieving samples from disparate freezers and locations. Additionally, automation removes the unreliability that can come when storing samples in manual freezers, which can experience temperature fluctuations with frequent openings. Other major benefits include increased sample integrity, optimized space use, lower running costs, reduced maintenance demands, more complete audit trails, more reliable disaster recovery, a lower risk of lost or misplaced samples, and a lower carbon footprint.
Indeed, recent advances in automated ultralow temperature (ULT) cold storage have enabled us to build more environmentally conscious freezers. This way, we improve a lab’s cost efficiency and help diminish its carbon footprint.
Q: How has Azenta made automated ULT storage products more sustainable?
A: For many years now, governing bodies such as the EPA have been spearheading a drive to reduce carbon emissions by pushing industry leaders to adopt better, cleaner technology and practices. Historically, -80°C freezer systems have been exempted from these changes in regulations due to their vital role and the need for high-global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants. However, new regulations have begun to ban the use of certain refrigerants and drive down the use of others with high GWP. In response to the changing economic and regulatory environment, Azenta has proactively introduced refrigerant technology that has previously only been used in other industries, as part of our newest system, to meet and go beyond current sustainability requirements.
The BioArc™ Ultra is a great new addition to our -80°C range of systems that do not use any high GWP, costly refrigerants. Instead, it uses Air (R729) as the refrigerant, which has almost zero GWP and zero ozone depletion potential. The Ultra is energy and space-saving, using up to 75% less power and 72% less floor space than equivalent manual freezers. The Ultra has exceptional storage depth and breadth, accommodating, for example, up to 17 million .9ml tubes. It can also store and handle various combinations of tubes, vials, plates, bottles, cryoboxes, etc., for long-term flexibility.
Q: What advances are on the horizon for Azenta in the cold storage space?
A: Azenta has a range of exciting current and future offerings in the cold storage space. We have automated solutions ready for storage units that range from ambient to -196°C, with our ambient to -80°C systems offering high levels of customization. We incorporate solutions into these systems to meet the needs of attached automation, such as external work cells or Autonomous Mobile Robots. We are continuing to develop our -20°C and -80°C Picking Modules to meet the ever-growing need to support a larger variety of container types—from centrifuge tubes and multiple types of bottles to sachets, bags, and more—as more customers move from manual ULT freezers to automated stores.
In addition to products like the Ultra, we also offer the BioArc™ Duo for customers with space constraints and the need for multiple temperature sample storage. This is a customizable solution that can support multiple temperatures within the same automated enclosure.
Finally, we are providing a host of other, related solutions such as a range of automation-friendly sample storage tubes across different working volumes with coding options—such as 2D-coded, dual-coded, and tri-coded—and with either external or internal threaded screw-cap sealing options. Azenta is constantly innovating in the coded sample tube space. We ensure that our sample tubes offer unequaled sample audit traceability, enabling sample tracking and data sharing between multiple users, labs, locations, and automation capabilities.
We are also working on an improved, integrated laboratory information management system (LIMS) with our LIMfinity platform, which meets the needs of biobanking and seamlessly integrates with ARCON™ (previously known as Strata), our Store Controller Software.
Are you looking for ULT freezers or looking for freezer quality testing?
Find a wide range of supplies and freezer technology provided by Azenta on LabX or submit a testing request through ContractLaboratory.com or view existing chilling and freezing serives.
