Storage and infrastructure
Diagnostic and research biobanks at the Department of Pathology are stored at room temperature (paraffin blocks and glass slides), 4oC cold rooms/refrigerators (paraffin blocks, tissue microarray blocks), -20oC freezers (DNA samples, plasma, serum), -80oC ultra low-freezers (fresh-frozen tissue, blood samples, cytology samples), and/or -196oC nitrogen tanks (fresh-frozen cells). At present, most storage locations are full or nearly-full, and the department works closely with hospital leadership to gain an overview of the overall storage situation.
The department follows the advice and suggestions provided by the Department for Research Administration & Biobanking for the type of equipment and labware needed for the practical operation and logistics of practical biobanking: https://forskerstotte.no/home/biobanker/Etablering-drift-praksis .