# Advanced development and validation of aliquot-level visual indicators of biospecimen exposure to thawed conditions

> **NIH CA R33** · ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY-TEMPE CAMPUS · 2026 · $353,601

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Many biological analytes of interest to both clinical oncologists and cancer researchers are unstable when the
unfixed biospecimens in which they reside are exposed to thawed conditions. For example, American Society
of Clinical Oncology / College of American Pathologists guidelines state that the post-excision-up-to-fixation
exposure time span for tissues collected for clinical HER2 testing in breast cancer must be less than 1 hour.
For blood plasma/serum and many types of tissue specimens that are to be frozen, the proper cold storage
temperature is well below the common laboratory freezer temperature of -20 °C. For this and many other
reasons, every year improprieties and inconsistencies in pre-analytical sample handling and storage generate
unacceptably large numbers of costly false leads in biomedical research. Unsurprisingly, experts in the field
agree that this problem must be minimized immediately. Currently there are few tools and not so much as one
widely accepted approach by which to implement evidence-based tracking of biospecimen exposure to thawed
conditions. In practice, it is actually quite rare for biomedical researchers to employ any evidence-based
QA/QC tools at all—which suggests that easy-to-use, individual aliquot-level thawed-state indicators could
have a major impact on improving biospecimen quality tracking and therefore actual biospecimen quality.
In 2022, the PI’s lab was awarded an R21 grant through the NCI’s IMAT program to pursue development of the
kinetically unique, autocatalytic, color-changing permanganate/oxalate reaction in melting point-depressed
aqueous solvents as simple (i.e., user friendly), inexpensive, visual trackers of biospecimen exposure to
inappropriately warm conditions, including temperature thresholds as low as -18 °C, -37 °C and -67 °C. The
chemistry for 14 targeted time-temperature indicators (TTIs) has been successfully developed. Under this
proposed project, the PI’s lab seeks to maximiz

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11312119
- **Project number:** 1R33CA309724-01
- **Recipient organization:** ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY-TEMPE CAMPUS
- **Principal Investigator:** CHAD R BORGES
- **Activity code:** R33 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** CA
- **Fiscal year:** 2026
- **Award amount:** $353,601
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2026-05-08T00:00:00 → 2029-04-30T00:00:00

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11312119

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11312119, Advanced development and validation of aliquot-level visual indicators of biospecimen exposure to thawed conditions (1R33CA309724-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-20 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11312119. Licensed CC0.

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