Sanofi Pasteur R&D Focuses On Setting ULT Freezers to -70 C

Partha Krishnan and Darren Cornell of Sanofi Pasteur pictured with Nathalye Terrero-Martinez from Thermo Fisher. This ULT Freezer is set to -70 C.

Hello again Freezer Challenge competitors! Today we bring you an inspiring story from a group participating in this year's competition: the Sanofi Pasteur R&D group in Cambridge Massachusetts. They reached out to us and wanted to share the progress they've made this year, and we hope this will inspire you to continue dedicating time and energy to the Freezer Challenge and laboratory sustainability efforts more generally.
 
Sustainable lab initiatives implemented at Sanofi Pasteur R&D, in Cambridge Massachusetts in the United States
Written by Partha Krishnan

Green Purchasing: We have partnered with Finance and Purchasing to put a system in place where orders for new freezers are funneled through the EHS department for sourcing of freezers with lower Global Warming Potential (GWP). We have also partnered with Eversource (our local utility company) to get credits for the purchasing of new energy efficient freezers. 
  
"Chilling Up" ULT Freezers: Thanks largely to the evidence-based resources available through My Green Lab, we were able to convince the lab heads that a bulk of our -80 C freezers can be set to -70 C with no concerns of losing sample integrity. 
 
Inventory and Maintenance: We now have a dedicated team to perform periodic maintenance of freezers and another dedicated person to perform freezer inventories. This has made a huge difference in getting freezer management under control.
 
Development of a Site Green Team: Our Green Team is completely organically grown with new members recruited solely by their motivation to make the site green! Some recent achievements by the team are switching to all compostable cups and cutlery at the cafeteria and increasing recycling in labs.

Take-Home Message: Small consistent steps taken in the right direction lead to huge sustainable gains down the road rather than a big overnight strategy that might fail!
 
“ You don’t have to do a lot to do a lot.”

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Everyone still has a little over two months to dedicate to the Freezer Challenge --keep up the great work! Unlike in previous years, we do not have any plans to extend the deadline for this year's challenge, so be sure you submit your scoresheets back to us by July 1 by clicking "Finish" on the final page. Your scoresheet will not count unless you have submitted it back to us! 

You are able to access and modify your scoresheet as many times as you want between now and July 1. When you try to access your scoresheet, if you get a message from Brilliant Assessments saying you can no longer access your scoresheet, this probably means you accidentally submitted it back to us too early. Email [email protected] if you need us to reopen your scoresheet so you can continue editing! Continue to reach out if you have questions or issues!

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