Freezer Farm

The Freezer Farm Dean’s CoRE at the Icahn School of Medicine is a secure, state-of-the-art facility that is fully equipped to meet your scientific and research requirements.

If your laboratory space is limited, we invite you to relocate your valuable short and long-term sample inventory to our care. We provide a variety of support systems and services that are designed to ensure the safety and preservation of your materials for years to come, including:

  • Emergency electrical backup system
  • 24/7 temperature monitoring with on-and off-site call-out system and emergency transport/response team.
  • Available temperature recordings on all systems
  • Freezer preventative maintenance as necessary
  • Access to dry ice and shipping materials
  • Week-day access with support staff ready to assist
  • Bar-code inventory services as needed (e.g., the box and specimen level)
  • Specimen aliquoting (Site Specific)

Please get in touch with us for more information and itemized pricing on our Freezer Farm storage Facility locations:

  • Onsite
    • Hess Freezer Farm – MSH
    • Morningside Freezer Farm – MSM

  • Offsite
    • Scisafe – Cranbury, New Jersey

Services and Equipment

The Freezer Farm Dean’s CoRE at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai works closely with Scisafe, the group responsible for our off-site freezer farm in New Jersey. For current space availability and further questions, don’t hesitate to contact the Freezer storage team at freezerstorage@mssm.edu.

Emergencies and Freezer Failure

The Freezer Farm Dean's CoRE wants to ensure you understand the guidelines for emergencies and freezer failures. Therefore, please read and review this section (in case) you have any emergencies or freezer failures.

First Step - Locating the Problem

  • First, the Dean's Office expects every freezer unit to have a temperature-monitoring device to prevent sample loss. The Freezer Farm uses Centrak to monitor the freezers in their locations, and we partnered with Minus80 Critical Temperature Monitoring. The temperature-monitoring devices are the first line of defense to notify your team of a possible emergency or freezer failure.
  • Second, please determine if your failure is due to an electrical issue with the unit or outlet or a temperature cooling issue.

Second Step - Assessing the Problem

  • Each lab should have a backup freezer (or freezers) in case of an emergency or freezer failure. If you have no backup freezers, please see if it is possible to utilize additional space in your current freezers by shifting items. Maybe your neighboring team/lab/department can accommodate some space in their freezer(s) or even loan you a backup freezer.
  • If you have exhausted all options above and still need emergency assistance, you may then contact us.
  • The Cold Storage Emergency Team will assist as a last resort to freezer emergencies.

Third Step - Solving the Problem

  • First, please click here and complete the Cold Storage Emergencies - On-Call Support Questionnaire.
  • Second, once you've completed the online questionnaire, contact the Cold Storage Emergency Team at 212-824-8659 (Ext. 58659).
  • Third, the Cold Storage Emergency Team will review your online questionnaire with you and assess the emergency. One of the following will procedures will occur:
    • Quick resolution - relocation of samples to the Hess Freezer Farm
    • Intermediate resolution - relocation of equipment to an adequate environment
    • Advanced resolution - either relocate failed equipment to a backup unit location or have backup equipment sent to a failed unit location
  • Fourth, contact a vendor (like Cryostar) to repair your freezer or immediately order a new freezer unit.
  • Lastly, the Hess Freezer will begin charging you after the 48-hour window.
  • The monthly charge is $550
  • A fund number is required for billing purposes

On-Call Support Question | PDF

  • Are you experiencing an electrical or temperature issue?
  • If electrical, are there any other available outlets in the area or on the floor?
  • If temperature, what is the set temperature for the freezer, and what is the current temperature?
  • Did you exhaust all departmental resources (backup units, relocating items in the dept/floor/labs)?
  • If "no," please see if there are any available backups or if space is available in the dept/floor/labs
  • Does the content need to be transferred into a backup unit (equipment failure)?
  • If "yes," can you bring content to the Hess Freezer Farm with dry ice?
  • If "no," ask next question
  • If "no," please confirm if there are any backups available or if space in the dept/floor/labs is available
  • Does the entire unit need to be relocated with content inside?
  • If "yes," either relocate the failed equipment to a backup unit location in Hess Freezer Farm, or relocate a backup unit equipment to the failed unit location
  • What is your location (building, floor, and room)?
  • Who is the point of contact (full name, mobile phone number, and email address)?