Long Term Storage and Precision Dispensing of Precious Liquids

描述(由申请人提供)：珍贵的液体样本，如含水的基因组DNA，是目前正在进行的更好地了解疾病表型和基因之间的联系的巨大努力的基础。这些努力有望为更好地预防和治疗人类疾病铺平道路。许多实验室在寻求更好地了解常见和罕见疾病的同时，一次保存着数千份这样的珍贵样本的档案，时间长达数年之久。目前管理贵重液体样品的方法充满了问题，包括库存控制不佳，在不直接访问样品的情况下搜索库存的能力差，由于蒸发而导致的样品浓度变化不变，平衡样品所需的时间过长，以及样品丢失、贴错标签或被污染的频率很高。该项目的目标是开发一种长期储存珍贵液体的系统并将其商业化，以消除或显著减少所有这些问题。该系统将液体储存在带有机器可读标签的标准化容器中，以便明确识别。自动精密分配器不需要吸管插入，确保了样品的完整性，同时分配了微升等量的贵重液体。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。这个基于工作流程的系统将提高基因组研究的效率和降低错误率，确保珍贵的液体样本清点和获取所需的时间更少，无污染，保持其浓度水平，并正确和肯定地识别。建成后，该系统将通过向生命科学实验室、法医实验室和医院进行营销而实现商业化。在该项目的第一阶段，制造并测试了关键发明，证明了其可行性：(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持宝贵的液体；(2)用户友好的分配机构可以非接触地提供1-1,500埃L等分，具有最先进的精度；以及(3)使用Agile软件方法规划了一个用户友好的存档液体样本跟踪数据库应用程序。在项目第二阶段，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)，建立基于工作流程的液体样本跟踪数据库并将其与储存盒和精密点胶设备集成(具体目标3)。这些商业设备的早期版本将在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推向商业市场。美国和世界各地的研究实验室存储了数以千计的珍贵液体DNA样本，但使用效率低下且容易出错的方式进行管理。Archivex正在开发一种存储、分配和清点贵重液体的综合系统，该系统将是方便和负担得起的，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的有效合作来改善公众健康。硬件将确保储存液体的完整性，并实现无污染的精确分配，而数据库应用程序将使研究人员能够更好地利用他们的全部样本收集，包括更有效地分析实验离群值

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