Biospecimens, Cryopreservation, and RFID

Looking for a powerful case of tremendous ROI using RFID... look no further. This interesting account spotlights an RFID application that is being acclaimed by people who collect biospecimens and deep freezes them for research purposes worldwide. While barcode labeling has streamlined the process to date, these users are finding that RFID offers substantial improvements and since the specimens are so valuable, RFID tag costs are irrelevant.

The Paoli Calmettes Institute is one of Europe's largest cancer research facilities, banking over 170,000 biospecimens in total, with 1,300 new samples arriving monthly. The institute transitioned from handwritten tube and bag labels (a very time consuming process) to printed labels with barcodes several years ago to reduce process time and error rates. Efficiencies were gained, but further room for improvement remained. Over the last four years, the institute has been researching RFID technology to enhance security and chain-of-custody tracking of its specimens and is approaching the conclusion of its phase 1 pilot.

What I like best about this article is that it is full of specific quant versus the squishy ROI analysis so often seen. If you're able to read it in full you'll known exactly what their cost and time savings are.