Freezing and thawing cells and tissues is bad for them. Some die, some change their function – and this may not be observed until it’s too late.
The Atelerix hedgehog hibernates when the temperature drops below 20°C.
Taking inspiration from Atelerix’s adaptation we designed a new approach to transporting cells across the world – one that treats cells as the sensitive, living entities that they are, and all of our products can place cells and tissues into a state of hibernation, protecting them from harm during storage and transportation.
Using a plant-based hydrogel technology derived from brown seaweed, we tailored its properties to suit many different applications. We only use alginate that is of the highest quality and purity, ensuring a defined reproducible product. We’ve engineered our buffers to be highly biocompatible to easily and safely gel and de-gel the hydrogel.
The 2D and 3D cell models used in current drug discovery and safety testing processes are increasingly complex. Likewise, the greater their physiological relevance, the more fragile they are – particularly in regard to storage and transport.
Cell-based therapies face even greater logistics challenges. Cells as therapies must arrive at the bedside with full efficacy and with no impact on patient safety, yet most autologous therapies cannot be frozen and must be delivered fresh. The consequences are very short shelf lives, measured in hours. Thawed cell therapies need time in culture to regain full efficacy, with serious consequences for logistics and cGMP challenges.
Our technology consistently outperforms short term cryopreservation on both cell yield and cell viability. We’ve also discovered that it removes a variability in cell recovery, ensuring predictable yields. Ultimately, we believe that our technology will revolutionise cold-chain supply logistics of biological material.
