RFID Based Tracking System for Ultra-Low Temperature Sample Repositories

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The specific aim of this Phase IIb (Phase II competitive renewal) SBIR proposal is to advance the prototype systems we developed under our Phase II grant into commercial production. Our product will be used to automatically track samples in laboratory and biobank freezers. Most of these samples are stored in vials. Between 200 and 500 million such vials are sold each year, representing a total market of about 200M. Today, the state of the art for sample tracking is2D barcoded sample vials. This method falls short on many fronts, resulting in sample degradation, lost samples, and up to thousands lost person hours per year. In our Phase II studies, these major problems were successfully addressed. We developed RFID tags that reliably function at ultra low temperatures. We can reliably attach these tags to sample vials and to the boxes that hold the vials. Each tag has a unique ID and is readable by electronics incorporated into the freezer. The freezer re