2022 Freezer Challenge Winners

With over 1,200 labs from 27 countries and over 12,000 cold storage units participating, the 2022 Freezer Challenge has saved a total of 6,732 metric tons of carbon dioxide! This is the equivalent of the energy consumption of over 1,300 homes for one year. Since it's launch in 2017, the International Laboratory Freezer Challenge from My Green Lab and the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) has saved a total of 24 million kWh of energy, reducing emissions by 16,796 metric tons, the equivalent of saving energy consumed by 3,268 homes for one year. 

Thousands of scientists made this incredible energy saving possible, with double the number of labs engaging in the challenge in 2022 compared to last year. Throughout the six-month competition, labs receive points for taking sustainable actions related to their cold storage units, including actions that promote energy efficiency, sample accessibility, and sample integrity. Winners are determined considering both the number of points earned as well as the amount of energy saved.

While every participating lab is a winner for helping save an incredible amount of energy, we are proud to honor the below labs for their significant contribution to the Freezer Challenge. 

​Congratulations to the 2022 Freezer Challenge winners! 

Biotech/Pharmaceutical Sector Winners 
  • Top Organization Award: Amgen
  • Large Size Lab Award: Amgen Massachusetts Pivotal Biologics Lab, USA
  • Medium Size Lab Award: Raw Materials Lab, Bio-Rad (Kidlington Branch), Oxfordshire, UK
  • Small Size Lab Award: Process Biochemistry Lab in Biogen at Cambridge, USA
  • Biorepository/Core Services/Shared Cold Storage Facility Award: South San Francisco Biobank, Astrazeneca, USA

 Academic Sector Winners
  • Top Organization Award: University of Virginia, USA
  • Large Size Lab Award: Traidl-Hoffmann Lab, Institute of Environmental Medicine, University of Augsburg, Germany
  • Medium Size Lab Award: Bristol Bioresource Laboratories, University of Bristol, UK
  • Small Size Lab Award: Manne Lab, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA
  • Biorepository/Core Services/Shared Cold Storage Facility Award: The Indiana CTSI Specimen Storage Facility, the Indiana University School of Medicine, USA

Government Sector Winners
  • Top Government Organization Award:​ Central Veterinary Laboratory in Harare, Zimbabwe
  • Medium Size Lab Award: The Ostrander Laboratory of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health​, USA

Hospital/Clinical/Other Winners
  • Top Organization Award: Boston Children’s Hospital, USA
  • Large Size Lab Award: Microbiology Lab, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
  • Medium Size Lab Award: NSW Biochemical Genetics Service, Sydney Children’s Hospital Network, Australia
  • Small Size Lab Award: Richard Wood Lab, MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA
  • Biorepository/Core Services/Shared Cold Storage Facility Award: Nationwide Children’s Abigail Wexner Research Institute Biopathology Center, USA

Winning Streak Awards (given to previous year's winners that exceeded their energy savings from last year)
  • Organizations: 
    • AstraZeneca
    • University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA
  • Labs
    • Lab+, Coventry University, UK
    • Van Der Pol Lab, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA
    • The Microbial Self-Healing Research Group at the National Research and Innovation Agency, Indonesia

Honorable Mentions
  • Organizations: 
    • MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA
    • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
    • The Institute of Cancer Research, UK
    • ​National Institutes of Health, USA
  • Labs
    • Sample Technologies Lab, QIAGEN, Germany

Congratulations again to all our 2022 Freezer Challenge winners! 
​
The Freezer Challenge is a program coordinated by the non-profit organizations
​My Green Lab® and the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories, and sponsored by various companies with an interest in promoting the most energy efficient cold storage options.