Room temperature biosample storage: Historical, Current and Future Applications
The idea of biosample storage at room temperature has an interesting history that spans at least 55 years back to 1962 when Dr. Guthrie invented the Guthrie card, a paper based matrix for newborn screening. Since then, applications for samples stored at room temperature in the dry state have expanded substantially. Blood storage on various forms of paper (Guthrie cards, FTA paper, Isocode, and FTA Elute) are commonly used in public health screening, agriculture, and forensics. These markets routinely analyze DNA, serology, and small molecules, with acceptance growing widely over the past 20 years. In fact, in the US every one of the more than 4 million babies born every year have blood samples collected on Guthrie cards for the screening of genetic diseases.
Markets that currently utilize room temperature biosample storage platforms have the following characteristics in common: they need to analyze thousands to millions of samples in parallel, they need to maintain a high-quality of sample during transport, and achieve operational simplicity while reducing costs. All of these needs can only be addressed by employing some form of room temperature storage.
Life scientists typically work with a fewer number samples and do not express the same level of need regarding efficiencies of scale. Recent advances in massively parallel and high-throughput genetic analysis have opened the window for personalized genomics and population studies that utilize thousands to millions of biosamples. As a result, sample processing has become the bottleneck in conducting research. In response to this unmet need, GenVault built upon decades of previous work in room temperature storage and assembled an integrated solution for long-term stability, and innovated novel technologies for nucleic acid storage and biomarker storage.
As more and more genetic discoveries are transformed into functional clinical tests and therapies, it is reasonable to expect that the needs outlined above will expand to clinical markets as well. Furthermore, spiraling healthcare costs will force the development of more efficient sample handling. These areas will most certainly be the focus of future development in room temperature biosample storage.
