New iBug Electronic Sensor can Monitor Sample Temperatures in Transit

A few degrees temperature change during transportation can destroy valuable medical supplies, frozen DNA samples or laboratory reagents. A new device called iBug can provide scientists and clinicians with peace of mind that their products have been maintained at the correct temperature, alerting them if samples have been damaged in transit or during storage.

The tiny electronic spy device can be stand alone, or fitted into the lid of any Eppendorf type tube. It can even be attached directly to shipping packaging. When the delivery arrives, the recipient pushes a button on top of the device and tiny LED’s light up to indicate whether the sample has stayed at its correct temperature. If the temperature has deviated then the LED’s flash red or yellow depending on the degree of variation.

Jonathan Redfern, co-founder of iBug Sensors, developed the idea together with colleagues working at the John Innes Centre. He says: “Samples and reagents that have been thawed and refrozen cost lab workers a huge amount of time, money and frustration. Failed experiments can result in a phone call to a supplier saying ‘your reagent was faulty’. In these cases, the supplier has little choice but to send a replacement.

“Suppliers currently have no control over how the product is handled while it is transported and can lose hundreds of thousands of pounds through damage in transit. iBug tracking acts as a guarantee for both the supplier and the receiver.”

iBug has a range of applications. For example, insulin can be damaged by being left in a hot car but patients need access to medication at all times. By using iBug, diabetics can be reassured that their insulin is safe to use.

The device is fitted with a reset button meaning that it can also be used in the laboratory once a shipment has arrived. Jonathan says: “I trained as a molecular biologist and see many opportunities for an iBug. For example, when a freezer breaks all the samples in it are often thrown out, even though some of them may not have warmed up too much. It’s just not worth the risk of ruining an experiment. iBug allows the lab to quickly identify damaged stock. It’s also common for other people in the lab to move your samples around, sometimes taking them out of the freezer while they rearrange things. When you come back to get your samples you have no idea that they had been warmed up.”

Future plans for iBug include adding a RFID chip to act as identification to produce an ‘inventory of your fridge’ and provide wireless communication of temperature profiles and warning alerts; other possible applications are adapting a blood bag so it contains a bug, and integration into ‘smart-packaging’.