 |
Specialised Facilities |
Biobanking facilities
BARC biobanking now provides reliable long term storage for your biological specimens, actively contributing to modern medical research.
The new biobanking repository is designed to store up to 2 million clinical trial samples in - 80oC freezer storage and liquid nitrogen. Uniquely designed to use up to 40% less energy than facilities of equal size, its extraction facility is a world first.
It is nationally and globally accredited for storage of clinical trials in over 13 disease areas including diabetes, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS., The repository provides ideal storage conditions to ensure that samples can be stored in perpetuity.
BARC SA as a team feel confident that with this new facility we are now, more than ever, able to offer an efficient personalized service and ‘tailor made’ quotations to the industry. Providing peace of mind and ensuring that “clinical trials always measure up to expectations.”
Click here to download pdf.
This facility has been developed to allow South Africa to offer capacity for clinical trial samples to be retained in Africa, for use when developments arise. This future capacity is critical for us to ensure that we can grow capacity in both drug trial development and vaccine development, using African researchers to find solutions and cures for the ills of both the continent and the world. The state-of-the-art BARC facility, designed for the storage of clinical trial samples from across Africa. The biobanking repository is destined to store more than 2 million clinical trial samples. Staff safety and sample integrity were the two main design elements.
Water-cooled -80°C ultra-low-temperature freezers have been installed, allowing for direct heat exchange transfer from the condenser via the reticulation system to the cooling towers. This is the most efficient means of heat exchange mechanism available, and they also incorporate a number of backed-up operational systems to ensure continual operational functionality of all systems, including additional water supply and reservoirs. Uniquely designed to use up to 40% less energy than facilities of equal size, its extraction facility is a world first.
Large, fully automated, microprocessor-controlled, archival liquid nitrogen refrigerators with the highest available level of sample security, with safe, efficient isothermal properties and dependable operational mechanisms available have been installed, with a holding capacity of 58,000 samples. Typical liquid nitrogen consumption of these refrigerators is less than nine litres per day.
An FDA-approved cold chain monitoring system has been set up to ensure real-time continual monitoring of the temperature, equipment electronic systems, liquid detection monitors, acceptable oxygen levels and related equipment failures within the facility. All instrumentation monitoring is electronically documented, and any critical changes result in an SMS via two independent telecommunications service providers to standby staff members.
Tuberculosis P3 laboratory
BARC South Africa’s new TB P3 laboratory integrates esoteric and clinical pathology enabling accurate and rapid diagnosis that now significantly reduces results time.
Click here to download pdf.
|