The 12-ton, world-class sample storage equipment of the new Biobank of the University of Szeged has arrived. The automated system, worth more than HUF 3 billion and unique nationwide, will be suitable for storing millions of biological samples.
The cornerstone of the Biobank building was laid on 21 January 2020 by representatives of the Spartacus Cancer Foundation and the European Biobank Network, the University of Szeged and the ITM, with the intention of providing world-class, modern, robotic, a storage system capable of storing minus 80 degrees should be built at the University of Szeged. The system will be suitable for the storage, rapid identification and even storage of drug molecules and vaccines collected at the university during clinical trials, research and patient care.
The extraordinary commitment of the University of Szeged is shown by the fact that the investment was implemented despite the epidemiological situation, as the installation of the equipment required the continuous, coordinated work of specialists from several countries. Due to the different epidemic situation in each country, the special delivery and preliminary technical inspection of the biobank storage device posed a great challenge to the international engineering team.
The delivery was preceded by a technical and logistical organization in several months of international cooperation. On November 10, 2020, nearly 12 tons of equipment arrived successfully. György Markó-Varga, a professor at Lundt-University, coordinated and is coordinating the installation, who traveled to Szeged from Sweden to represent the Spartacus Cancer Foundation and, as a biobank manager, shared his experiences with the equipment.
The development of the university’s biobank is expected to be completed in late December and early January, when the commissioning and calibration and cooling process will begin in about a month.
The results of several years of development and work at SZTE are proved by the fact that at this year’s quality management audit, the institution’s biobank development, strategic planning and the introduction of high-level professional standards received a “highly exemplary” rating.
