The CryoNest and CryoCan are both liquid nitrogen storage vessels in the Cryolab range, but they serve different clinical settings and have different operational characteristics. Choosing between them depends on your sample volume, your access frequency, and the level of organisation your storage programme requires.
The CryoNest
The CryoNest series is designed specifically for IVF laboratory environments where sample volumes are significant, staff access the vessel regularly, and HFEA traceability requirements demand an organised, efficient storage configuration. The CryoNest uses a canister-based organisation system that allows samples to be stored, located and retrieved without lifting out multiple canisters to reach a specific sample. In a busy UK fertility clinic managing hundreds or thousands of stored embryos, oocytes and gametes across complex consent and traceability requirements, this operational efficiency is clinically significant. Every unnecessary access event costs liquid nitrogen and introduces temperature fluctuation risk. The CryoNest is designed to minimise both.
The CryoCan
The CryoCan series uses a more traditional open dewar design. It is a reliable, cost-effective storage solution well suited to smaller private clinics, satellite units, supplementary storage, or settings where sample volumes are lower and the full canister organisation system of the CryoNest is not required. The CryoCan is the right choice when the priority is dependable storage at a more accessible price point rather than the high-access, high-volume operational profile the CryoNest addresses.
The question is not which vessel is better. It is which vessel suits your specific programme volume, access pattern, and storage configuration. A CryoCan in the right setting performs as well as a CryoNest in the wrong one.
Both the CryoNest and CryoCan are compatible with standard UK IVF storage consumables including CBS goblets, visotubes and cryocanes. For specific configuration advice, contact the Cryolab team or use CryoGPT.
