We look after our partners' samples as if each tube were the only one.

We record every handover and check every temperature log, by day and by night.

The laboratory stores samples in two kinds of cold store. Freezers at -80 °C on level B1 hold plasma, lysates and other material that does not need deeper cold. The vapour-phase nitrogen store on level B2 holds cell products at about -150 °C.

Temperatures are logged continuously and alarms are passed to the technician on call. Marc Jaquier, head of sample custody, reviews the logs each week and signs the custody record for every release of samples to a partner.