109 Preservation of biologics in a dry state: Advances in isothermal vitrification technology

Abstract

“Rapid developments in the areas of tissue engineering, cellular therapeutics, in vitro fertilization, and transfusion medicine have accelerated the need for cost-effective preservation methods to enable a ready supply of biological materials. While cryopreservation provides an effective solution for preserving many of these constructs, the technology required and the ongoing liquid nitrogen costs associated with cryogenic storage can be restrictive. Lyophilization (freeze-drying) provides an alternate solution, enabling storage in a dry state, but few cell-based materials can survive the stresses associated with freezing following by drying under vacuum pressures. Another approach to achieving dry state storage involves drying into a glassy state at ambient temperatures, an approach called isothermal vitrification. This method has the potential to improve the cost, availability, and environmental impact of bio-banking technologies. While drying at ambient temperatures can be achieved by numerous approaches, we have recently developed a versatile microwave assisted drying process that enables rapid and controllable isothermal vitrification of carbohydrate-based preservation solutions. This technology has been used to support the dry state preservation of viruses, eggs, sperm, and macrophages. While progress has been made, there are still challenges to developing isothermal vitrification as a universal strategy for the preservation of biologics. However, because different levels of cellular functionality are required to achieve a viable product for therapeutic use, there are niche areas for which this is already a practical strategy for transport and storage. Source of funding: This work was funded by grant #5RO1GM101796 from the National Institutes of Health. Conflict of interest: None declared. gdelliot@uncc.edu