Ziath reports on the widespread adoption of its DataPaq™ Cube rack reader in Covid-19 testing labs for tracking of sample tubes cryogenically stored in cryoboxes.
Keeping track of large numbers of Covid-19 RNA extraction samples can be an onerous task. Many labs around the world are using 2 ml screw cap tubes with 2D-barcodes on the base for this work, including those laboratories equipped through the successful UN/IAEA supply program.
Screw cap tubes with 2D barcodes are widely available from many different manufacturers and are supplied in cryoboxes which can hold eighty-one 2 ml tubes or up to 100 smaller tubes in a 13 x 13cm square format. Performance optimized for this rack size – the DataPaq™ Cube has pre-loaded sample management templates which can be selected for the 81-, 100-, 121- or 196-tube cryobox formats supplied by various manufacturers.
Special pre-cut “masks” enable the DataPaq™ Cube to firmly hold cryoboxes of different formats and from various suppliers, as these can sometimes differ slightly in their outer dimensions. Reading a full cryobox of 100 Covid-19 sample tubes and decoding their barcodes takes only 1 second for the full rack using Ziath’s latest AI-powered DP5 software. The resultant Covid-19 sample tube barcodes are displayed in tabular format together with a useful image showing the successfully decoded tubes. This important data can be exported as .csv, .png”>
Ziath Ltd