When: 28 August, 2024 at 10:15 am

Where: KC:F, Kemicentrum, Naturvetarvägen 14, Lund University, Lund

Title: Deep Eutectic Solvents as Novel Cryoprotective Agents

Abstract

There are many cells that cannot be stored using current cryopreservation methods. One limitation in cryopreservation is the reliance on a small number of cryoprotective agents (CPAs) – for example dimethylsulfoxide and glycerol – as most CPAs have some level of toxicity. This toxicity means that cells must be frozen quickly after CPA addition, and such CPAs are inappropriate for tissues and organs, as by the time the CPA has penetrated to deeper cell layers, toxicity may have damaged the outer layers, leaving them vulnerable to further damage during freezing. Thus there is a need for a wider range of (ideally) less-toxic CPAs with tunable properties. Recently we have been developing new CPAs based on Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs). DESs are mixtures of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors with melting points lower than either of their constituents. DES synthesis requires only simple mixing at moderate temperatures. Importantly, the vast number of potential DES combinations allows for easy tailoring of properties such as viscosity, polarity, melting point, and other physico-chemical properties. Here we study several DESs and characterize their thermal properties and interactions with mammalian cells, including toxicity, permeability and survival following cryopreservation. We focus on four distinct mammalian cell lines, and show that some of the DESs are just as effective, and in some cases more effective, than DMSO.

Professor Gary Bryant is associate Dean of Physics at RMIT University in Australia.