Systems, Devices, and Methods for Automated Sample Thawing

• US 20150334774A1
• Filed: 05/14/2015
• Published: 11/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Biolife Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: BioCision LLC
• Inventors: Schryver, Brian, Shannon, David
• Granted Patent: US 10,555,374 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 1/0252 Temperature controlling refrigerating apparatus, i.e. devices used to actively control the temperature of a designated internal volume, e.g. refrigerators, freeze-drying apparatus or liquid nitrogen baths
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 1/0284 Temperature processes, i.e. using a designated change in temperature over time
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 36/24 Warming devices
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 36/2483 with electrical heating means
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 36/32 Time-controlled igniting mechanisms or alarm devices
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 7/00 Heating or cooling apparatus autoclaves B01J3/04; Heat insulating devices
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 3/10 in respect of time, e.g. reacting only to a quick change of temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 7/22 the element being a non-linear resistance, e.g. thermistor G01K7/26 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 1/025 For medical applications

Abstract

The present invention generally relates to thawing a cryogenically frozen sample. The systems, devices, and methods may be used to heat a sample holder, the sample holder configured to receive a sample container holding the frozen sample. A sample thaw start time may be identified by measuring a temperature of the sample container and/or a temperature of the sample. A sample thaw end time may be calculated as a function of the sample thaw start time. In some embodiments, the same thaw start time may be identified by a significant change in a first derivative of a warming curve of recorded temperature measurements. The sample end time may be calculated by adding a constant to the sample thaw start time. The constant may be the average sample thaw time per the sample container.

Claims

1. A device for the conversion from a solid state to liquid state of a sample contained in a vessel, the device comprising:

a pliable solid material forming a receptacle for receiving the vessel;

a heater for heating the pliable solid material to a temperature higher than a melting point of the sample;

wherein the pliable solid material is interposed between the vessel and a non-pliable solid material, when the vessel is received within the receptacle formed by the pliable solid material.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the pliable solid material has a thermal conductivity between 0.05 Watts per meter-Kelvin and 10 Watts per meter-Kelvin and the non-pliable solid material has a thermal conductivity between 10 Watts per meter-Kelvin and 410 Watts per meter-Kelvin.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the pliable solid material and the non-pliable solid material are permanently bonded together.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the pliable solid material and the non-pliable solid material are removably bonded together.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the pliable and the non-pliable solid material form two or more separate segments that join together to form the receptacle and the segments are joined by a mechanical linkage that may move the segments into an open configuration for receiving or releasing the vessel and a closed configuration for forming the receptacle and thawing the vessel, and wherein the pliable solid material may be selectively placed in contact with the vessel when transitioning the segments from the open configuration to the closed configuration or removed from contact with the vessel when transitioning the segments from the closed configuration to the open configuration.

6. The device of claim 5, further comprising a clamp for imposing a clamping force on the segments on the vessel contained within the receptacle, where the clamping force is imposed by magnetic, electromagnetic, spring, hydraulic, pneumatic, or mechanical forces, or any combination thereof.

7. The device of claim 5, further comprising a vessel sensor for detecting the presence of the vessel between the segments of the pliable solid material when the segments are in the open configuration and closed configuration.

8. The device of claim 5, further comprising a micro-controller, wherein, when the segments are in the open configuration, the micro-controller is configured to detect a placement of the vessel at a position between the segments while the segments are in the open configuration and configured to deliver a control signal to actuate the mechanical linkage to move the segments toward the closed configuration to contact the vessel with the pliable solid material of the segments upon insertion of the vessel into the position between the open segments.

9. The device of claim 5, further comprising a micro-controller, wherein, when the segments are in the closed configuration and thawing the vessel, the micro-controller is configured to interrupt thawing of the vessel by delivering a control signal to actuate the mechanical linkage to move the segments toward the open configuration such that the pliable solid material of the segments do not contact the vessel.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the non-pliable solid material is heated by the heater.

11. The device of claim 1, further comprising a temperature sensor fixed in the non-pliable solid material, and wherein the sample vessel temperature sensor is thermally insulated from the non-pliable solid material and is held in contact with the vessel at a contact location such that a temperature signal reported by the temperature sensor is associated with a temperature of an exterior surface of the vessel at the contact location.

12. The device of claim 1, further comprising an infra-red temperature sensor fixed within the non-pliable solid material, and wherein a temperature signal reported by the infra-red sensor is associated with a temperature of the sample vessel.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein a total duration of a sample thawing interval is determined by algorithmic analysis of the temperature signal from the infra-red temperature sensor reporting an exterior surface temperature of the vessel at a location below the top level of the sample contained therein.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein the heating of the pliable solid material causes radial heating of the vessel to achieve a thaw time that is predominantly independent of a vessel fill level.

15. A method of thawing a sample within a vessel, the method comprising:

receiving a temperature data feed from one or more temperature sensors reporting an exterior surface temperature of the vessel at a location along the exterior surface of the vessel that is below a top level of a sample within the vessel;

calculating a thaw end time based on the temperature data feed received from the one or more temperature sensors; and

outputting a signal to interrupt thawing of the sample contained in the vessel at the calculated thaw time.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the temperature data feed received from the sensor is used to calculate a timing event associated with a change in state from solid to liquid of the sample contained in the vessel, and calculating a thaw-end time based on the timing event.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the temperature data feed received from the sensor is used to calculate the rate of temperature increase of the sample vessel, and calculating a thaw end time based on the rate of temperature increase.

18. A method of thawing a sample within a vessel, the method comprising:

equilibrating the sample and vessel to an intermediate temperature, wherein the intermediate temperature is below a sample melting temperature;

contacting sides of the vessel with a solid material mass that is maintained at a thawing temperature, wherein the thawing temperature is greater than 5 degrees above the melting temperature of the sample plus or minus two degrees;

predicting a completion of a phase change of the sample contained in the vessel by calculating a time interval for a duration of the phase change based on the equilibrating temperature and the heating temperature;

outputting a signal to interrupt thawing of the sample contained in the vessel at the predicted completion of the phase change of the sample contained in the vessel.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the intermediate temperature is between −

78 to −

70 degrees Celcius.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the sample is equilibrated to the intermediate temperature range by placing the sample vessel into a receiving container that is in contact with solid carbon dioxide.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the receiving container and the solid carbon dioxide are surrounded on sides and a bottom by insulation.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein the intermediate temperature is between −

196 to −

180 degrees Celsius.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the sample is equilibrated to the intermediate temperature by placing the sample vessel into a receiving container that is in direct contact with liquid nitrogen.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the receiving container and the liquid nitrogen are surrounded on sides and a bottom by insulation.

25. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving a data feed from a temperature sensor measuring a temperature of the vessel such that a temperature signal reported by the temperature sensor is associated with a temperature of the vessel; and

adjusting the calculated time interval for the phase change duration based on the received temperature sensor data feed.

26. A method for thawing a cryogenic sample in a sample container, the method comprising:

heating a sample container with a heater;

determining a thaw start time for the cryogenic sample;

determining an estimated thaw end time of the cryogenic sample based at least in-part on the determined thaw start time of the cryogenic sample.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

stopping the heating of the sample container with the heater after the estimated thaw end time.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

measuring a temperature of an outer surface of the sample container; and

recording the temperature measurements.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the step of determining a thaw start time of the cryogenic sample comprises identifying a significant change in a first derivative of a warming curve defined by the recorded temperature measurements.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the step of determining a thaw end time of the cryogenic sample comprises adding an average thaw time to the thaw start time.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the step of determining the thaw end time comprises accessing a library of average thaw times.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the library comprises average thaw times for a plurality of different container types.

33. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of identifying the sample container type and accessing a library of average thaw times for the sample container type.

34. The method of claim 26, further comprising providing a signal alert to a user based on the thaw end time.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the signal alert is an audio and/or a visual alert.

36. The method of claim 26, further comprising adjusting the thaw end time based on a sample container material.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising adjusting the thaw end time based on a presence of a sample container label.

46. The system of claim 34, wherein the one or more transducers comprises a infrared temperature sensor.

38. A system for thawing a cryogenic sample in a sample container, the system comprising:

a sample holder coupled with a heater, the sample holder configured to receive the sample container;

one or more transducers for measuring at least a temperature of the sample container as the sample container is heated within the sample holder;

a processor coupled with the one or more transducers, the processor configured to;

determine a thaw start time of the sample based on the temperature of the sample container;

determine a thaw end time of the sample based on the thaw start time.

39. The system of claim 38, further comprising a user interface;

and wherein the processor is further configured to provide an alert to a user via the user interface to signal the thaw end time of the sample.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the user interface is configured to receive a user input, the user input comprising an average thaw time for the sample container.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the processor is configured to determine the thaw end time by adding the user inputted average thaw time to the thaw start time.

42. The system of claim 39, further comprising a memory coupled with the processor, the memory including a library of average thaw times for a plurality of sample types.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the user interface is configured to receive a user input of the sample container type.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the processor is configured to determine the thaw end time by accessing the library to identify the average thaw time corresponding to the user inputted sample container type and adding the identified average thaw time to the thaw start time.

45. The system of claim 38, wherein the processor is configured to determine a thaw start time of the cryogenic sample by identifying a significant change in a first derivative of a warming curve defined by the recorded temperature measurements.