Grant: Project Grant

As stated by the Organ Preservation Alliance in their recent call to action, "the ability to replace organs and tissues on demand could save or improve millions of lives each year globally and create public health benefits on par with curing cancer" (Nat Biotech 2017: 35: 530-42). Storage at subzero temperatures has long been pursued as a strategy to improve the availability of the liver for transplantation. However, the successful cryopreservation of liver remains a formidable challenge as ice crystal formation and growth can cause cell damage and disrupt important structures within the tissue or organ resulting in poor post-thaw function. Our group has developed synthetic, small molecule ice recrystallization inhibitors which function to control both extra- and intracellular ice crystal growth and can be used to improve the recovery of many different cell-based therapeutic products. As this approach of controlling ice crystals is similar to strategies used in nature by freeze tolerant organisms to survive winter, we are interested in testing if these ice control agents can protect liver tissue and whole liver from freezing and thawing damage. Through this work, we will develop new insights into how these ice control agents function to protect cells, tissues and organs from freezing injury and we will explore their use in the low temperature preservation of cell-based products that are needed in biomedical research, drug testing, and transplantation.