Bluechiip Limited [ASX BCT] – which has developed a ground-breaking wireless tracking solution for the healthcare and life science, security, defence and manufacturing industries – today announced it has signed a Collaborative Evaluation and Trial Agreement (“Agreement”) with ATCC, a recognized leader in biological materials management and processes for cell provisioning based in the USA.

The Agreement allows ATCC, historically known as the American Type Culture Collection, to evaluate Bluechiip’s tracking solution and conduct a pilot using the bluechiip® technology over the next few months. Following completion of the evaluation and trial period, ATCC may option to deploy the bluechiip® technology in its cold-storage logistics workflow.

ATCC currently stores approximately 10 million biological samples of different forms. The repository portion of its facility contains 200 freezers to store biomaterials, including vapor-phase liquid nitrogen freezers, mechanical freezers and cold rooms. Users of these products and services come from many countries worldwide, and include researchers in academia and government, as well as private industry. ATCC’s collections include a wide range of biological materials for research, including cell lines, molecular genomics tools, microorganisms and bioproducts.

Bluechiip expects the evaluation and pilot will verify that the bluechiip® tracking solution – which enables data to be read at temperatures as low as those reached in liquid nitrogen, approximately -196 degrees Celsius, and enables data to be transmitted through frost – could enhance ATCC’s long-standing history of excellence in quality biospecimen management including its ability to track its large number of samples.

“The robustness of our technology provides significant advantages over traditional identification or tracking solutions, such as labels, barcodes or RFID technologies,” said Brett Schwarz, Bluechiip’s Managing Director and CEO. “We are confident the bluechiip® tracking solution will transform current tracking methodologies and practices for biological specimen and biosample management, many of which are highly valuable and often irreplaceable.”

Mr Schwarz added: “ATCC has extensive experience in biological materials management, cell culture and processing, which makes it an ideal evaluator of the bluechiip® tracking solution and as a potential customer and end-user.”

About Bluechiip Limited:

Bluechiip has developed a wireless tracking solution for the healthcare and life science, security, defence and manufacturing industries which represents a generational change from current methods such as labels (hand-written and pre-printed), barcodes (linear and 2D) and microelectronic integrated circuit (IC)-based RFID (Radio Frequency Identification).

The unique tag is based on MEMS technology and contains no electronics. The tag can either be embedded or manufactured into a storage product, such as vials or bags. Easy identification, along with any associated information from the tag such as temperature can be detected by a reader, which can also sense the temperature of the tagged items. The traditional identification technologies have significant limitations. Whereas a barcode requires a visible tag or line-of-sight optical scan, bluechiip® technology does not. Unlike labels, barcodes and RFID, the bluechiip® technology can sense the temperature of each item a tag is attached to, or embedded in.

The bluechiip® technology has initial applications in the healthcare industry particularly those businesses which require cryogenic storage facilities (biobanks and biorepositories). bluechiip® offers the only technology that enables accurate and reliable tracking of products including stem cells, cord blood, and other biospecimens. In addition to functioning in extreme temperatures, the bluechiip® tracking solution can survive autoclaving, gamma irradiation sterilization, humidification, centrifuging, cryogenic storage and frosting.

The bluechiip® technology has other healthcare applications in pathology, clinical trials and forensics. Several other key markets outside of healthcare include cold-chain logistics/supply chain, security/defence, industrial/manufacturing and aerospace/aviation.

In March 2009, Time magazine highlighted biobanking as one of ‘10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now’. The growth of biobanks worldwide has been exponential; recent studies estimate that hundreds of millions of tissue samples are stored in US biobanks and greater than one billion are stored worldwide. In a recent report by Visiongain – Biobanking for Medical R&D: Technology and Market 2010-2025’ – the market for biobanking (sales of biobank resources or services) in 2009 was estimated to be worth $8 billion and is expected to reach $45 billion by 2025.

About ATCC

Since 1925, ATCC has operated as an independent, non-profit entity that has helped life science organizations and academic institutions produce innovations that have benefited humankind: creating life saving vaccines, nutritional improvements, cancer research breakthroughs, and safer, more effective medications. With distribution to more than 140 countries and a working relationship with 12 distribution partners, ATCC has the experience, knowledge, rigor, tradition and the global reach to serve academic institutions, government agencies, biotech, biopharma, and research organizations around the world. ATCC is an ISO 9001:2008 certified, ISO/IEC 17025:2005, and ISO Guide 34:2009 accredited organization.