Norwegian Institute of Public Health First to Install and Extend Hamilton BiOS System for Biobank

Three Million Samples from Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study Managed by Automated System
Franklin, Mass. (February 3, 2015) – Hamilton Storage Technologies announced today the successful on-site extension of the -80°C Hamilton BiOS automated storage system at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) in Oslo, Norway. This is the first extension of the BiOS in the field during a live project. The original installation was completed in September 2013.

The BiOS system provides large-scale, ultra-low-temperature storage and management of biological samples, collected in the Norwegian cohort study. The automated sample picking device prevents significant temperature fluctuations throughout a sample’s lifetime in the system while ensuring integrity in a consistent -80°C environment.

“The expanded system allows us to manage more samples for research projects, which were previously stored in manual freezers and were not retrievable without affecting the remaining samples,” said Niko Sahlberg, head engineer at the NIPH’s Department of Biobank. “Maintaining the integrity of samples throughout the temporary unloading and reloading process has always been a risk. When we extended the BiOS system, the temperature in the existing chests with the previously stored samples was constantly monitored and did not show any significant changes.”

“The BiOS system is helping the NIPH to actively share biological samples with global research partners, and the automated storage method provides confidence in sample integrity,” said Dr. Martin Frey, Director Industrial Solutions, Hamilton Bonaduz AG. “This installation and extension marks an important milestone and underlines the significant growth in biobanking requirements to properly store and manage a growing amount of sensitive samples.”

The BiOS system is being used to store and manage over three million biological samples collected in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study which were previously stored in manually operated chest freezers.