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: 7927949
• 负责人: GORDON Ian ROBERTSON
• 金额: $ 34.51万
• 依托单位: ARCHIVEX, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-30 至 2010-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7927949
• 关键词: Aliquot; Archives; Area; Arts; Biological Sciences; Characteristics; Collaborations; Complement; Complementary DNA; Complex; Computer software; DNA; Data; Data Base Management; 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; Research; Research Personnel; Resistance; Resources; Risk; Robot; Sampling; Secure; Site; Solid; Source; 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）：珍贵的液体样品，如水性基因组DNA是目前正在进行的巨大努力的基石，以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。许多实验室在追求更好地了解常见和罕见疾病的同时，一次保存数千份此类珍贵样本的档案长达数年。目前用于管理珍贵液体样品的方法充满了问题，包括库存控制差、在不直接访问样品的情况下搜索库存的能力差、由于蒸发导致的恒定样品浓度变化、等分样品所需的过多时间以及样品以显著的频率丢失、贴错标签或被污染。该项目的目标是开发并商业化一种用于长期储存贵重液体的系统，以消除或显着减少所有这些问题。该系统将液体储存在标准化容器中，并带有机器可读标签，以进行明确的识别。自动化精密分液器不需要移液器插入，可确保样品完整性，同时分配微量珍贵液体。分配设备和归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，并促进改进实验计划。这种基于工作流程的系统将通过确保珍贵的液体样品更少的库存和访问时间，无污染，保持其浓度水平，并正确和积极地识别，提高基因组研究的效率并降低错误率。该系统完成后将通过向生命科学实验室、法医实验室和医院销售而实现商业化。在该项目的第一阶段，关键的发明被构建并测试，结果证明可行性：（1）紧凑的长期存储和分配容器以抗蒸发和污染的方式保持珍贵的液体;（2）用户友好的分配机制可以以最先进的精度提供1-1500升的等分试样;以及（3）使用敏捷软件方法，利用潜在客户的输入，规划了用户友好的归档液体样本跟踪数据库应用。在项目的第二阶段，将降低制造这种具有唯一和永久标识的新型液体储存容器的技术风险（具体目标1），将设计和建造半自动和全自动精密点胶系统的商业版本（具体目标2），基于工作流的液体样本跟踪数据库将与存储盒和精密分配设备集成（具体目标3）.这些商用设备的早期版本将在一个全国知名的遗传学核心资源实验室进行Beta测试。在第三阶段，利用其他资金，这一完全开发的新系统将被引入商业市场。美国和世界各地的研究实验室储存了数千份珍贵的液体DNA样本，但使用效率低下且容易出错的方法来管理它们。Archivex正在开发一种用于存储、分配和清点贵重液体的集成系统，该系统将方便且经济实惠，将通过降低劳动力成本来支付自己的费用，并将通过提高实验室的生产力和有效协作来改善公共卫生。硬件将确保存储液体的完整性，并实现无污染的精确点胶，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本收集，包括更有效地分析实验异常值