Customisable cryogenic labels
Written by Oliver Stockton, Managing Director, CILS
Research organisations that provide project management solutions to small pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies use customised computer imprintable cryo labels during multi-phase clinical research projects.
They often need customised cryo labels detailing the name and perhaps the logo of the end client, the trial name, the sample type, subject ID, collection date/time and volume of the sample, and the labels need to look professional, especially if they provide high quality added value services to their clients.
The customized cryo labels often have to resist storage at -80ºC for one year or longer and meet the standards required for quality control protocols and laboratory best practice.
In terms of the labels used for this purpose, a CILS-81000TN self-laminating polyester label is most commonly used for transportation or long-term storage at -80ºC.
Other options include CILS-8100LN which are suitable for storage in -196ºC and CILS-8100X which is a conformable label that survives -80ºC for shorter storage durations.
We often find that clients have labels, but their performance is not good below -40ºC and the labels come off, which may jeopardise a trial.
The most professional-looking label can be created and provided complete and printed by CILS, with either yours or your clients’ name, logo and trial name. We can print the labels with variable data provided from a spreadsheet or database file that you provide us, and we can leave areas blank for the handwriting of initials or date/time, etc.
A professional generic solution is where we partially pre-print the company name, logo and trial name and leave the rest of the label blank for you to print your variable data, using either a laser or thermal transfer printer.
An economical option is for us to manufacture your labels completely blank and you design and print your own cryo labels using a thermal transfer or standard black toner office laser printer. This provides the greatest versatility because the sizes of tubes are often the same in different clinical trials so you can change the designs of the labels for each client or trial.
Design and print software from a company such as NiceLabel is very easy to use, even for somebody with no design and print experience. The software also enables you to create barcodes if you need them for automated data collection.
Let us know the storage and longevity requirements of the labels you need, the type and size of tubes to be labelled and an idea of the information that you need on the labels and one of our technical specialists will provide you with suggestions, samples, and pricing.