Gibson Group » Gibson Group News (tag [Publicity])

Extracellular Ice Nucleation Improves 2/3D Cryopreservation by Preventing Intracellular Ice

Fri, 28 Apr 2023 09:21:27 GMT

Working with Dr Tom Whale (Chemistry) we have demonstrated how controlling ice formation outside of cells can help reduce intracellular ice formation, during the cryopreservation of monolayers and spheroids. During cryopreservation in low volumes, water can supercool (i.e not freeze at zero), which means cells are exposed to supercooled liquid water which leads to increase intracellular ice formation, which can be fatal. The team used extracts from pollen, known to nucleate ice at warmer temperatures, to prevent supercooling and show this reduces the amount of ice inside cells. Due to the the cryopreservation of the cells, in both monolayer and spheroid format, was dramatically improved. This method is appealing as it only involves changing the the solution outside of the cells, to mitigate an intracellular process, rather than delivering a new cryoprotectant into the cells.

Chemically Induced Extracellular Ice Nucleation Reduces Intracellular Ice Formation Enabling 2D and 3D Cellular Cryopreservation

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacsau.3c00056

New Method to Cryopreserve 3-D Tissue Models Published in ACS AMI

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 09:11:00 GMT

Cell culture enables the study of biological process and the discover of new drugs and biomaterials outside of the body. However, culturing cells in 2-D is not always predictive of what cells do in 3D (inside the body). There is a need to make 3D cell models (which are harder to prepare) to enable predictive screening to predict outcomes in the body, without (or before) resorting to animal models. In our latest work we have developed a method to cryopreserve spheroids - 3-D assemblies of cells which are more predictive of physiological outcomes than normal 2D monolayers. We achieved this using our macromolecular cryoprotectants which mitigate cold damage by mechanisms that traditional cryoprotective agents dont address. We show that liver-cell spheroids can be recovered in high yield, are healthy and respond to drugs (i.e. toxicity testing) the same as fresh spheroids.

This work is important, as spheroids are known to be more predictive than 2D cell monolayers but the barrier to researchers to use them is high, developing the techniques and handling of the cells. By developing this method to freeze them, the spheroids can be prepared, banked and easily shared as a frozen product. This work was conducted in collaboration with our Biotech spin-out Cryologyx Ltd.

Read the paper here

Cryopreservation of Liver-Cell Spheroids with Macromolecular Cryoprotectants

Team Ice Awarded RSC Horizon Prize

Tue, 07 Jun 2022 09:07:00 GMT

We have been awarded a prestigious Horizon Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry for our work on "development, application and translation of chemical tools for cryobiology". This is a TEAM prize, including our collaborators at Warwick: Sosso, Whale and Notman as well as our industrial partners Cytivia and Cryologyx (our spin out). There will be a big party to celebrate soon!

https://www.rsc.org/prizes-funding/prizes/2022-winners/team-ice/

https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/university_of_warwick_scientists_win_three_prestigious_royal_society_of_chemistry_prizes1/

Matt Awarded McBain Medal

Fri, 13 May 2022 08:59:17 GMT

Last year, Prof Matt Gibson was announced as the awardee of the 2021 McBain medal. On the 11th May, a special meeting was held, where Matt was formally awarded the medal.

GibsonGroup COVID-19 work in Medical School Council Report

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 15:21:08 GMT

The Medical Schools Council, which represents medical schools around the UK, has released its report into how university research contributed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Work undertaken by the GibsonGroup, in collaboration with Iceni Diagnostics, was featured in this report. In particular, the teams discovery of how SARS-COV-2 can bind to glycans, and the first demonstration of how glycans can be used in place of antibodies in rapid-diagnostics was highlighted. The report can be downloaded here:

https://www.medschools.ac.uk/news/responding-to-a-pandemic-uk-universities-research-into-covid-19

Our work highlighted in ERC Horizon Magazine

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 08:50:50 GMT

Our work on developing new materials which can impact the growth/formation of ice, and the development of macromolecular cryoprotectants has been featured in the ERC (European Research Council)'s Horizon Magazine. It also features some other exciting ERC-funded research in cryobiology.

Read it here

CryoLogyx spun out to translate our research to industry

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 14:19:00 GMT

The new company Cryologyx has been formed, supported by a grant from InnovateUK. Cryologyx will use technology developed in our laboratories to transform how cells are frozen, and distributed. The company will be led by (soon to be former) postdoc Dr Tom Congdon, who will be CEO. Keep watching for more updates!

www.cryologyx.com

The Gibson Group is featured on BBC News

Fri, 26 Jun 2020 07:28:58 GMT

On Thursday 25th November, members of our team were interviewed by BBC midlands science correspondent David Gregory. This feature, which was the lead story on BBC Midlands TV news, discussed the teams effort to develop a faster, cheaper and easier to use coronavirus diagnostic. The team are making rapid progress and you can read the story here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-53180182

Professor Gibson awarded ACS Biomacromolecules/Macromolecules Young Investigator Prize!

Fri, 11 May 2018 07:17:12 GMT

Professor Matthew Gibson has been honoured as 1 of the 2 recipients of the ACS Biomacromolecules/Macromolecules Young Investigator Prize! This is an annual award given to a scientist in polymer science of any nationality under the age of 40. The award citation reads;

Professor Gibson was selected in recognition of his outstanding contributions in fields of bioinspired materials and polymer chemistry, having successfully translated his basic research findings to industrial partners. Prof. Gibson is acknowledged as having created the field of macromolecular cryoprotectants, which is making a global impact, in addition to his work on glyco-materials and new polymer synthesis.

Read the release here

This follows a long tradition at Warwick, with Perrier, Dove, O'Reilly all being previous awardees.

Our research highlighted in Scientific American

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 09:56:04 GMT

Our recent paper Antifreeze Protein Mimetic Metallohelices with Potent Ice Recrystallization Inhibition Activity has been featured in Scientific American (a monthly US science magazine with a circulation ~ 0.5 million). In this article they highlgihted our collaborative work with Peter Scott and David Fox on designed amphipathic helicies which have the unique ability to slow ice crystal growth. These helicies provided understanding for how native antifreeze proteins, which are often helical, prodcue their antifreeze effects through their structure and not necessarily through a lock-and-type type interaction with the ice surface - although this is still under investigation in our lab.

Read it here

Nature-Inspired Antifreeze Molecules Could Keep Organs Fresh Longer