Team Ice - RSC Chemistry Biology Interface Division Horizon Prize 2022
The work of 'Team Ice', a UK-led team of chemical scientists awarded the RSC Chemistry Biology Interface Division Horizon Prize 2022, is brought to life in this RSC-commissioned animation.
‘Team Ice’, was named the 2022 winner of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Chemistry Biology Interface Division Horizon PrizeLink opens in a new window. Led by scientists at the University of Warwick including Professor Matthew Gibson, Dr Gabriele Sosso and Dr Tom Whale, Team Ice won the prize for the development, application and translation of chemical tools for cryobiology. These advances have a direct impact on the development and delivery of emerging medicines.
The team, a multidisciplinary collaboration between academics, industrial partners (Cryologyx LtdLink opens in a new window, and Cytiva), and Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, worked to explore cryobiology, studying the effects of extremely low temperature on living organisms and cells.
After receiving the prize, Professor Matthew Gibson, from the Department of Chemistry and Warwick Medical School, said: “Understanding the impact of ice and low temperature on biology, and the world around us, is a crucial research question. The research has impact from climate change, to developing the next generation of cryoprotectants which are essential for drug discovery and emerging regenerative medicines. Our wider team of academics and industrialists is undertaking both fundamental and applied multidisciplinary research, combining experiment with theory and modelling."
Team Ice’s work will find its most critical impacts in future clinical applications. The work will reduce the toxicity of current cell-based therapies and will allow increased flexibility in patient treatment, improving patient outcomes entirely.