Dear Narumi, you hit the nail on the head…

knowing my post here to be a little bit late, but nevertheless: unfortunately this thread contains some inaccuracies which have to be credited to our life as “lab-workers”…

Dry Ice filled boxes MUST NOT be closed tightly unless you would like to create a with . Dry ice evaporates permanently to a reasonable amount and therefore is capable to blast the wrapping box easily.

@ Nadine: came up with the LN2-dewar-matter which might be a good solution especially for storage of LN2 in the Lab. The problem for you, dear RANA, is to overcome and follow legal regulations (at least in the European Community – and I guess “Ireland” is in the EC), i. e. ADR-regulations (transport of hazardous material on roads: “Accord européen relatif autransport international des marchandises Dangereuses par Route”, cf.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADR_(treaty) ) as you told us of nearly 1 hr by car from Hospital to your Lab. If I (in Salzburg or Austria or Germany) get caught in a police action on the road carrying with me a filled liquid nitrogen dewar (perhaps additionally NOT secured properly) I think I would not be allowed to drive the car further (independing of the fact I am transporting valid medical tissue specimens for diagnosis or not), and would face a police charge…

So the proposal of Narumi seems (in my opinion/experience) to be the best way to overcome the issue transport as well as of ADR regulations too (since the is also IATA = flights approved certified ).

@ Dear Rana, you haven’t specified in more detail which purpose the frozen specimens after coming to the lab will serve: is it e.g. cryosectioning (muscle, skin, or tissue in general etc.) for histology / (I)HC or mainly storing for e.g. DNA-RNA testing. Some posters in other threads on ResearchGate mentioned that – at least tissue (when freezing) for further use in histology and histochemistry should be “snap frozen” by use of LN2-precooled isopentane (2-methylbutane) for several reasons (dipping and dropping tissues into almost viscous cooled isopentane gives the most increased cooling rate without “Leidenfrost’s phenomenon”). After rapid freezing the frozen specimens CAN be stored in Liquid nitrogen. Long-time storage usually is done in a ultra-low-temperature freezer achieving at least – 80 degr.C (this T to be a so called “recrystallization”-point for tissues, where tissues thawed beyond that temperature will be destroyed by big ice crystal formation). Remember: Temp. of LN2 = -196 degr.C, Dry Ice = - 76 degr.C, so called CryoCans (usually with fluorinated hydrocarbons) will allow freezing only at – 40 to – 45 degr.C, as measured at the inverted can’s outlet nozzle, too high the temperature for a really “ultrastructural” preservation of tissue morphology, so this only usable as an exceptional method.

Best Regards and wishes

Hi Rana, have a look here: http://www.kgw-isotherm.de/produkte/cryo/bio.html

I think you will get these container also in Ireland. Cheers, Nadine

I would not suggest LN unless you are using a giant container. Dry ice is in range of -20 to -30, you can use a dry ice ethanol bath which goes to -70.

biomedical laboratories routinely get their cells shipped on dry ice (overnight to 2-3 days of shipping) which works perfectly fine. for few hours you should be okay with dry ice (colllected from shipments across various labs). second alternative to dry ice is ethanol storage boxes which are frozen to -80 before use.

Dry ice (Approximate -80 deg centigrade) is the best option for sample transportation when you are traveling to long distance. this will stay longer than liquid nitrogen and safe to carry.

You did not tell us what type of samples you are transporting or what is the distance from the hospital to lab. If it takes just few minutes and you are transporting tissue samples I would transport in normal media and freeze in the lab. If it takes hours then flash freeze in liquid nitrogen on site then transport on dry ice. Best wishes

I do suggest to go for a small Cryo cans . It is available in companies like MVE or Taylor Wharton.

Dear Rana, if your samples are frozen cell vials it will be fine in the dry ice box which is safer than liquid nitrogen, in case of 24 to 72 hour transport. Just make sure to close the dry ice box well and the amount of the ice is enough. If you prefer the liquid nitrogen you may go to the site that Dr.Nadine referred to; it is truly helpful. Good luck!

actually my samples are fresh tissues taken immediately after operation so am afraid if I use dry ice it wont be frozen enough to preserve the tissues, also the distance between lab and hospital is approximately one hr. by car

thank you all for your answers

I might go with the flash freeze idea but for how long ? 5 min? or more or less?

Just to add a tiny note, the cells in the biopsy tissue can stay alive for more than 4 hours in the room temperature if you put them in a proper nutrient medium such as DMEM or RPMI; This is just in case you need to establish a cell line from the biopsy, if you need RNA or DNA only go with freezing. All the best!

Thanks a lot

Please use dry shipper like this.

http://www.mtg-de.com/products/cryo-preservation/storage-transport/single-use-dryshipper.html

A dry shipper is reservoir of Liquid Nitrogen by sponge.

So that, container can be saved at -190 degree for 5 days.

And, dry shippers can be used for air transportation.

@Phanibhushan Meka: In my experience RNAlater isn't the answer of all questions to store RNA. Cheers, Nadine

Dear Narumi, you hit the nail on the head…

knowing my post here to be a little bit late, but nevertheless: unfortunately this thread contains some inaccuracies which have to be credited to our life as “lab-workers”…

Dry Ice filled boxes MUST NOT be closed tightly unless you would like to create a with . Dry ice evaporates permanently to a reasonable amount and therefore is capable to blast the wrapping box easily.

@ Nadine: came up with the LN2-dewar-matter which might be a good solution especially for storage of LN2 in the Lab. The problem for you, dear RANA, is to overcome and follow legal regulations (at least in the European Community – and I guess “Ireland” is in the EC), i. e. ADR-regulations (transport of hazardous material on roads: “Accord européen relatif autransport international des marchandises Dangereuses par Route”, cf.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADR_(treaty) ) as you told us of nearly 1 hr by car from Hospital to your Lab. If I (in Salzburg or Austria or Germany) get caught in a police action on the road carrying with me a filled liquid nitrogen dewar (perhaps additionally NOT secured properly) I think I would not be allowed to drive the car further (independing of the fact I am transporting valid medical tissue specimens for diagnosis or not), and would face a police charge…

So the proposal of Narumi seems (in my opinion/experience) to be the best way to overcome the issue transport as well as of ADR regulations too (since the is also IATA = flights approved certified ).

@ Dear Rana, you haven’t specified in more detail which purpose the frozen specimens after coming to the lab will serve: is it e.g. cryosectioning (muscle, skin, or tissue in general etc.) for histology / (I)HC or mainly storing for e.g. DNA-RNA testing. Some posters in other threads on ResearchGate mentioned that – at least tissue (when freezing) for further use in histology and histochemistry should be “snap frozen” by use of LN2-precooled isopentane (2-methylbutane) for several reasons (dipping and dropping tissues into almost viscous cooled isopentane gives the most increased cooling rate without “Leidenfrost’s phenomenon”). After rapid freezing the frozen specimens CAN be stored in Liquid nitrogen. Long-time storage usually is done in a ultra-low-temperature freezer achieving at least – 80 degr.C (this T to be a so called “recrystallization”-point for tissues, where tissues thawed beyond that temperature will be destroyed by big ice crystal formation). Remember: Temp. of LN2 = -196 degr.C, Dry Ice = - 76 degr.C, so called CryoCans (usually with fluorinated hydrocarbons) will allow freezing only at – 40 to – 45 degr.C, as measured at the inverted can’s outlet nozzle, too high the temperature for a really “ultrastructural” preservation of tissue morphology, so this only usable as an exceptional method.

Best Regards and wishes

Special vessels for samples's transportation in liquide nitrogen

http://www.cryopal.com/file/otherelementcontent/pj/20/a6/f1/b2/catalog-cryopal-voyageur-transporting-shipping-biological-samples2784049288452044854.pdf