Extreme CRYO 2010 Abstracts.

Abstract

The Biopreservation Student Association of the University of Alberta and faculty members involved in biopreservation research hosted the meeting. The purpose of this two-day meeting was to highlight presentations and discussions on current research and interdisciplinary ideas related to cold, ice, and biological systems. The theme of the conference reflected the many unsuccessful experiments in the laboratory that may not lead to publishable results but still lead to new insights for the researcher. Participants talked about events that seemed to be failures at first but actually hinted at something unexpected and resulted in a different way of looking at a specific problem. The group hosted approximately 35 people, including world-renowned scientists and leading researchers from the University of Alberta, University of Calgary, Université du Québec à Montréal, and Indiana University. Dr. Kenneth Storey from Carleton University, Ottawa, presented the keynote address about the ability of some species of frogs to survive freezing and the molecular mechanisms of vertebrate freeze tolerance. Participation in the conference was free for all the attendees, who included principal investigators, research associates, graduate students, and technicians. A variety of topics were discussed during the meeting, including tissue and organ preservation, cryosurgery, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, improved techniques for cell preservation, and mathematical modeling in cryobiology. The meeting was followed by a roundtable discussion. The conference was an excellent opportunity to display Alberta's outstanding contribution to low-temperature biology and applications in transplant medicine, transfusion science, and biomedical engineering. A significant amount of time was allowed after each presentation to promote discussions between attendees, and many new scientific links were established during the meeting.