Newcastle University has a large institute based within its faculty of medical sciences, named The Institute of Cellular Medicine. The institute is home to more than 270 staff, including around academic members, researchers, technical staff and postgraduate students.
Focusing on cutting edge medical research, the institute explores the basis of disease, the development of new methods for diagnosis and treatment and assessing the impact of new treatments in practice. For laboratories and research facilities, it is crucial to maintain correct temperatures during storage to protect research samples. Should a malfunction occur, this could result in a loss of years of work and investment.
Another important reason for effective temperature monitoring is maintaining a detailed record. This is crucial to meet UKAS requirements, and helps laboratories provide proof of due-diligence when it comes to audits.
We spoke to Lee Reed, laboratory manager for Newcastle fibrosis research group in Newcastle university Laboratory, about their past experiences with systems to measure the temperature of their -80°C freezers, and what led them to invest in testo Saveris 2. Reed explained that the failure of their old system, mainly due to connection issues and lack of support, meant that new solutions for freezer security had to be explored.
When selecting a system, testo Saveris 2 quickly emerged as the front runner, as Lee pointed out; “Testo Saveris 2 covered all bases of what was required for a freezer monitoring system for this institute, providing an economical and robust alert system that we could tailor to our needs."
The Solution
Testo Saveris 2 allows automated temperature measurements, storing and collating data in one central, secure place. This reduces effort of staff and eradicates the risk of data being misplaced. Reports can be set up to be sent automatically via email, SMS or App. Thanks to the wide range of probes available, with a testo Saveris 2 system you can monitor temperatures as low as -195°C, as well as the option to monitor relative humidity. Another advantage to testo Saveris 2 is that it works with WPA2 Enterprise networks, should this be a requirement.
The Institute of Cellular Medicine has many locations across the Newcastle University Medical School. They have more than 50 -80°C freezers that must be monitored to maintain precious samples. To monitor such ultra-low temperatures, Testo recommend the testo Saveris 2 T3 with an exceptionally fast temperature probe. This combination can monitor temperatures as low as -195°C. An advantage of the testo Saveris 2 T3 logger, is it has 2 channels. This means, providing the measuring points are close enough (within approximately 4 metres), Newcastle University could monitor 2 freezers with a single logger.
When asked about Testo’s customer service, Reed said “Testo have been great to deal with. The support we have received from the team at Testo and SLS (Scientific Laboratory Supplies) has been great. The troubleshooting advice has been robust and helped to address the issues we have found.”
One of the biggest advantages for Newcastle University has been the automated alarm function, which has prevented the loss of valuable research samples. “The system has already alerted us to some freezer breakdowns allowing us to respond quickly and decant into reserve freezers and save samples that would have previously been lost.”
Lee also commented on the user-friendly nature of the testo Saveris 2 system. “The ease of use of the system allows monitoring to take place 24 hours a day saving staff having to manually check on freezers”.
When summarising their experience with the testo Saveris 2 system, Reed said “Testo have supplied us with a robust and trustworthy monitoring system that supports all our needs and more.”