Research samples collected over decades at a Swedish medical university were destroyed when a freezer malfunctioned during the Christmas holidays, the institute has said.
The samples were stored in tanks cooled with liquid nitrogen, at a temperature of -190C, at Karolinska Institutet (KI) in Stockholm.
KI is home to the Nobel Assembly, which is tasked with selecting a winner for the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine.
Sometime between 22 and 23 December there was an interruption in the supply of liquid nitrogen to 16 cryogenic tanks, and while the tanks can go for four days without additional liquid nitrogen, they were left without it for five, leading to the destruction of samples from multiple institutions.
Matti Sällberg, dean of KI’s southern campus, said on Monday: “It happened at possibly the absolute worst time imaginable in Sweden, just one day before Christmas Eve.”
The incident has been reported to police, the university added.
Some media outlets reported that the estimated value of the samples lost was about 500m kronor (£37m).
Sällberg said no official estimate of the value of the samples lost had been made, but said it was easily in the millions.
“Those worst affected are those researching leukaemia, they have gathered samples from patients over as much as 30 years,” he added.
An internal investigation has been launched at the university and despite there being no indication of sabotage, the incident has also been reported to police.
Sällberg said: “Currently there is no indication that it was due to outside influence but the police report was done to cover all bases.”
The samples were all strictly for research so it would not affect the care of any current patients, but had been intended to be used in future research.
“These are samples that have been the subject of extensive studies and there were plans for more studies,” said Sällberg.
