Hmm... not really. I mean, we have a lot of incubators, fridges and freezers and -80°C freezers and liquid nitrogen tanks etc. Currently they are monitored by a third party add-on thermal scanning system that beams measurements by radio back to IP connected base stations (thick walls), that then relays the signals to a central C&C computer. But the same C&C system can accept suitably formatted input from a device with an integral self-monitoring system. We just haven't bought any because a plain old fridge is cheaper.
And then there's the question of the fridge contents. We are currently implementing a sample labelling and storage system in order to track every single aliquot of DNA, tissue, plasmid, you name it, that goes into storage. We aim to be able to pin down the exact shelf, drawer and box location of every sample, primarily so that freezer doors need to be opened for a far shorter time leading to a reduction of energy use and defrosting requirement. It will also enable an exit policy so that ownership of samples will not "stutter" when someone leaves - it was discovered in a recent audit that around 40% of our storage capacity is taken up with ownerless legacy material. Now, each fridge, freezer and storage unit will have a barcode reader tacked to the outside for people to record what they put where and when. These records are tied into electronic lab books and electronic protocol lists.
I wonder what would happen if we lost all those data in a cyber attack?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
