Michelle Rogers, Sales and Marketing Director at Labcold discusses Labcold’s sponsorship of CASE Xtreme Alps expedition 2010.
The Centre for Altitude Space and Extreme Environmental medicine (CASE) based at UCL were sponsored in their latest high altitude expedition by Labcold, the UK's leading specialist manufacturer of medical and scientific refrigeration, who lent the team of 40 doctors two of their best selling superfreezers.
CASE specialise in studying the parallels that exist between critical illness and the physiology of extreme environments with the aim of improving the chances of survival for the 1 in 6 of us who will spend a critical part of our life in ICU.
Dr Dan Martin, a Research Fellow from CASE and veteran of their Xtreme Everest expedition said 'plasma work forms the core of our research investment, thus safe storage of samples is of paramount importance to us. The conditions under which we work in the field are fairly harsh and we believe that Labcold freezers would be ideal for this purpose'
The freezers had to undergo a series of tests to see whether they would be able to function in such an extreme environment including testing in a hyperbaric chamber. Labcold fridges and freezers are designed for optimum storage in ambient temperatures from 10 to 32oC but at nearly 5,000 metres above sea level and in temperatures below freezing, no one could be certain how these freezers would operate.
The advanced specification of the freezers meant they held temperature throughout and worked perfectly during the eight weeks they spent in the gruelling environment of the Margherita Hut. Required to store 1,200 precious samples, keeping a constant -40oC in both the cold of the mountain and the searing heat of the valley floor, Labcold freezers performed 'faultlessly' according to Mac MacKenney the expedition manager.
It will take the CASE team many months to analyse their data but Labcold are pleased to have assisted in their latest expedition and that their freezers maintained peak performance despite the extreme environment thus ensuring sample integrity.
For more information about Labcold's range of medical and scientific refrigeration why not contact them on 0870 300 1001 or visit their website at www.labcold.com.
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Media contact: Ann Dennard
Phone; 0870 300 1001
Background - LABCOLD
Labcold is the UK's leading specialist manufacturer of professional Refrigeration equipment for use in scientific, laboratory and medical applications.
Founded in 1932, LABCOLD is a privately owned British company with over 40 years' experience in the supply of professional temperature control products. The full LABCOLD range, all of which is CE marked, includes blood bank refrigerators; Pharmacy fridges; incubators and monitoring products. In addition the company has a team of engineers to provide full service and maintenance support.