Next Generation Cell Cryopreservation: Developing Products for the Research Sector

The market for innovative cell-based therapeutics and diagnostics, tissue engineering and stem cell banking is rapidly growing. Cells cannot be cultured indefinitely so must be cryopreserved for long term storage and distribution. The current gold standard for cryopreservation uses toxic organic solvents at high concentrations -- a 50-year old technology which needs updating for 21st century medicine and industry.

The current solvent based approach does not give full cell recovery, is cytotoxic, and many cell lines simply cannot be stored frozen at present. This has led to the use of engineered hardy cells which can be regrown after thawing. These so-called immortalised cell lines dominate the research space due to their robustness, in preference to higher-quality, but more fragile, primary cells.

Furthermore, emerging cell based therapies (such as CAR-T, a revolutionary treatment for cancer; the 2nd largest cause of death in the UK) involve the direct injection of toxic cryopreservatives into the patient alongside the cells. This leads to clinical side effects, such as the cancer patient becoming incredibly sick, and in some cases weakens them to the point where chemotherapy or other treatments have to be suspended, putting the patient in extreme danger.

To address this challenge, we have taken inspiration from Nature. Extremophiles (frogs to scorpions to arctic fish) survive extreme cold by producing 'antifreeze proteins' which mitigate the damage caused by growing ice crystals, allowing them to live in sub-zero environments.

Our research team at CryoLogyx have developed Award-winning (RSC-Emerging-Tech-2014) Synthetic Macromolecular Cryoprotectants -- polymers which dramatically improve cell cryopreservation by mimicking some functions of natural antifreeze proteins. The polymers are low cost, synthetically scalable and have been proven to dramatically increase post-thaw cell recovery for a range of cells, from blood, cell monolayers to stem cells. We have also used these polymers for the solvent-free storage of high-value antibodies and enzymes.

This is a platform technology with huge potential across all areas of drug discovery, high throughput screening, biologics and fundamental research. It will support British Biotech, a UK industry that is one of the best in the world, and will create high-skilled jobs and support high tech manufacturing, transport and logistics jobs in the Midlands and across the UK.