Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A 2024 audit of a 600-litre -80 degC freezer found 38 percent of boxes were ULAB and were dispositioned with PI sign-off.
- Is an instance
An institution mandates that any sample untouched for seven years is reclassified as ULAB and scheduled for destruction unless the owning lab claims it.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A clearly labelled, actively used cell line in continuous publication output is not ULAB.
- Not an instance
A regulatory biobank sample subject to a statutory retention period is not ULAB even if dormant.
Editorial commentary
The ULAB acronym was coined within the sustainability-in-laboratory community to highlight that a significant fraction of -80 degC and -20 degC freezer contents in most research institutions has no identifiable owner, often because the original researcher has left. ULAB samples consume energy continuously while delivering zero research value. Periodic freezer audits, sample-ownership databases, and a default disposal policy after a defined retention period (commonly 5 to 10 years) are recognised mitigation strategies. The concept is central to the annual International Freezer Challenge.
References
- International Freezer Challenge guidance; My Green Lab cold-storage best-practice toolkit.
Also known as
Unknown Long-Abandoned Biological sample · Orphan sample · Unowned sample
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="ULAB sample"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/ulab-sample" />{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"name": "ULAB sample",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/ulab-sample",
"description": "An Unknown Long-Abandoned Biological sample, typically held in a freezer or cold-storage facility with no current owner, provenance record, or active research use, representing a major target for sustainability clean-out programmes.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/sustainable-research-and-laboratory-operations/",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/ulab-sample",
"sameAs": [
"Unknown Long-Abandoned Biological sample",
"Orphan sample",
"Unowned sample"
],
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}
