# System to Track Samples in Liquid Nitrogen Environment

> **NIH NIH R44** · BIO TILLION, LLC · 2021 · $821,418

## Abstract

Today, there are primarily two ways to track samples in a liquid nitrogen freezer, manual methods and robotic
systems. Manual tracking is by far the most common method today but it is prone to human error since
samples can be misplaced, entries can be inaccurate, samples can be moved, removed, or added without
accurately updating the database.
Robotic freezers, on the other hand, keep accurate records but they (a) are very expensive, and (b) their
capacity is significantly reduced due to the robotics.
The goal of this SBIR fast-track proposal, is to develop a functional prototype of a system that will allow real-time
box tracking in a liquid nitrogen freezer. It will perform inventories without even opening the freezer. It
will guide the users to the desired sample boxes for retrieval and alert them to errors (and how to correct
them) when they occur.
When used with our liquid nitrogen temperature box mapper a cold chain of custody from multiple freezers
down to individual sample vials can be maintained and documented.
This system will afford many of the benefits of a robotic system at about 10% of the price and without
sacrificing any freezer space at all.
This system will capture the very large segment of the market between single freezers with
handwritten notebooks and Excel spreadsheets on the one hand, and expensive robotic freezer systems on the
other.
New electronics that is compatible with the challenging liquid nitrogen environment and the associated low
level software will need to be developed but other elements of the system such as the user interface can be
adapted from BioTillion‘s existing products. To mitigate risk, we have already identified and tested individual
electronics components that function at -196 °C.
The goal of the Phase I will be to design, fabricate and test (a) prototypes of the electronic designs needed to
read RFID box tags at -196 °C and (b) RFID tagged labels that can be read at liquid nitrogen temperatures.
The goal of the Phase II will be to use the Phase I results to develop a fully functional prototype of our system
that will operate in a liquid nitrogen freezer.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10261001
- **Project number:** 4R44OD030029-02
- **Recipient organization:** BIO TILLION, LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Hananel Davidowitz
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $821,418
- **Award type:** 4N
- **Project period:** 2020-09-15 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10261001

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10261001, System to Track Samples in Liquid Nitrogen Environment (4R44OD030029-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10261001. Licensed CC0.

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