The company's Sample Process Management System is expected to become available in spring 2002. The system is based on standard upright Harris™ freezers, which the manufacturer has modified by incorporating two 1.5 horsepower, semi-hermetic compressors to ensure temperature stability. The freezers have a footprint of 25 cubic feet, or enough space for nearly 1,000 standard microtiter plates.
Each sample can be a standard or deep-well microtiter plate, or a box of microcentrifuge tubes. To access samples, an investigator uses a touch-screen interface on the freezer door, or connects remotely from a networked personal computer. To add new samples, the user places the sample on a sliding tray on the freezer door. The tray then enters an airlock chamber, where a barcode reader detects the sample's presence and closes the outer door. Nitrogen gas drops the airlock's relative humidity below 15 percent, and a rotary tray with a lip slips under ...
