COVER STORY / ADVERTISING FEATURE
The Microbank system – developed and manufactured by Pro-Lab Diagnostics – uses specially etched porous glass beads and a uniquely formulated cryopreservative. The specially treated beads are of a porous nature allowing microorganisms to readily adhere to the bead surface.
to change with amalgamation and centralisation of services There will be pressures on time and
productivity, and the solution chosen must provide a complete and reliable liquid storage management system for biological sample transfer from the primary tubes to secondary tubes and plates, guaranteeing traceability and security. One such example is the NEO sample management system (Ilsa, France), which is designed to guarantee the traceability of samples, to ensure sample integrity, to improve tracking efficiency and finally to optimise freezer space in order to manage biobank needs effectively. The NEO sample management system manages the full life cycle of the sample, from reception of the primary tubes to expiry or final analysis of the resulting aliquots. The refrigerator or freezer storage phase is also fully monitored. The link between the primary sample tube number, the patient number and the well number are all entered electronically, creating an unbreakable link, and only a barcode reader is needed to locate a microtube for a particular patient. The NEO system uses integrated 2D
Datamatrix GS1-compliant barcodes, together with the NEO Manager (software), which guarantees traceability and efficient retrieval from the biobank, and is applicable for clinical, serum bank, blood bank, cord blood, diagnostics, drug centre, biotechnical, veterinary and safety testing laboratory applications, and is now employed in multiple sites across the UK.
Increases in the number of samples
being required to be stored has led to important developments for the NEO system with the introduction of improved advanced software the ‘NEO Multi-Robot - Parallel Automation for Maximum Throughput’. The newly launched MultiRobot Mode enables multiple robots to operate simultaneously within the same system. Each robot processes its own job list independently, eliminating duplicated work and significantly improving overall efficiency. Intelligent coordination ensures all robots work together seamlessly, delivering faster results without compromise.
Microbank For the storage of living cells in a biobank, the intention is not to maintain the integrity of a measurable parameter in a biological sample; but to retain living cells with genotypic and phenotypic characteristics intact over a short or preferably long period of time at –20°C to –70°C.
Microbank, developed and
manufactured by Pro-Lab Diagnostics, has offered a solution to laboratories for the efficient storage of bacterial cultures for over 35 years. It is an advanced platform that utilises specially etched porous glass beads and a uniquely formulated cryopreservative. Ongoing independent laboratory trials have accumulated up to 30 years of successful storage data both for bacterial and fungal cultures, including fastidious bacteria such as Neisseria
gonorrhoeae, Campylobacter spp. and anaerobes. The system has been enhanced with a
2D barcode to meet higher requirements for traceability and data storage. All 2D barcodes are unique, with a guarantee of no duplicates, and are laser applied for high contrast, and permanently fixed to the tube for guaranteed sample traceability. Each vial contains approximately 25
sterile coloured beads (single colour) and the unique cryopreservative. The specially treated beads are of a porous nature allowing microorganisms to readily adhere to the bead surface. When a fresh culture is required, a single bead is removed from the vial and used directly to inoculate a suitable culture medium. At Pro-Lab Diagnostics, we take pride in our long-standing commitment to supporting microbiologists and culture collections around the world. The Microbank system has been trusted globally for decades to preserve bacterial and fungal isolates reliably. In all areas of biobanking, reference to the reliability of the system used is essential.
PPi
Pro-Lab Diagnostics
0151 353 1613
uksupport@pro-lab.co.uk www.pro-lab.co.uk
February 2026
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