Successful cryopreservation of bone marrow in situ within vertebral bodies offers an opportunity for quick and convenient storage of a significant quantity of bone marrow stem cells, including hematopoietic- and mesenchymal-type stem cells. However, cryopreservation of more complex large tissues and organs, such as the vertebral body (VB), remains problematic....
Even with advanced medical technology, there is still an unmet need for organs to reduce the transplant waiting list and to advance organ-related research. Cryopreservation through vitrification is one possible solution to increase organ availability. A major challenge with cryopreservation of organs is the toxicity of the cryoprotectants (CPAs) that...
Successful cryopreservation of all biological specimens would have an untold positive impact on medicine and scientific research. However, cryopreservation of the most complex biological specimens, such as tissues and organs, remains elusive. Vitrification, or ice-free cryopreservation, is promising for cryopreservation of complex specimens. The biggest challenge, though, is the toxicity...
Despite the many advances in biotechnology and biomedical engineering, the need for long term organ and tissue storage remains among the unsolved problems in the field. Researchers are investigating several possible solutions to the issue that aim to maintain the function and integrity of the biological tissues during storage and...
There is a significant need for technological advancement in blood processing. New technologies in rapid processing of frozen blood products could significantly improve management of the blood supply chain in the United States by enabling on-demand use of frozen blood products that can be stored for 10 years instead of...
Granulocytes are a class of white blood cells essential to immune function. Granulocyte transfusions hold promise to treat many conditions, but the short-shelf life of granulocytes makes transfusions infeasible without a cell preservation method. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential for cryopreservation of granulocytes using 30%...
Spray drying has been widely used in food science for long-term storage of products such as powdered milk, and it has recently been used for preservation of more temperature sensitive products such as human blood plasma and single-cell organisms. However, there are no previous reports of successful spray drying of...
Freeze-drying, or lyophilization, has shown great promise in addressing many of the logistical challenges of storing and preserving red blood cells (RBCs). A crucial part of any future RBC lyophilization protocol is the primary drying temperature, which affects the sample drying rate and the dried cake’s ability to form a...
This study lays the groundwork on potential techniques that could be employed to improve the post-thaw wash processing of cryopreserved human red blood cells. Transfusion of red blood cells is one of the most commonly practiced procedures in clinical medicine. Millions of red blood cell units are transfused to patients...
Cryoprotectants (CPAs) such as glycerol and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) are commonly used during cryopreservation of cell based therapeutics. Although these additives are beneficial during freezing, it is often desirable to remove them before infusion into a patient. Currently, the most common method for CPA removal is by centrifugation. This method...