Events

IoB Seminar Series: Prof. Matthew Gibson

Date: Wednesday 25 October 2017 15:00 - 16:00

Location: David Sizer Lecture Theatre, Bancroft Building, Mile End Campus

Professor Matthew Gibson, University of Warwick will be the next speaker in the Institute of Bioengineering Seminar Series with “Designing New Materials Inspired by Antifreeze Proteins for Cell Storage”

Prof. Gibson explains: All modern biotechnology, basic biology and regenerative medicine relies on the ability to store cells (or tissues) for subsequent usage. For example, most biomaterials research is conducted on freeze / thaw edimmortalized cells and recombinant protein expression relies on glycerol stocks of micro organisms. To enable the cells to be frozen large quantities of organic solvents such as DMSO must be added, and subsequently removed; These solvents are not passive agents, causing toxicity, cell stress and many cell types simply cannot be cryopreserved efficiently using these methods. For (frozen) therapeutic cells, avoiding the use of solvents is clearly desirable.
We have pioneered the use of synthetic polymers which can reproduce the desirable properties of antifreeze (glyco) proteins. Here I will discuss our recent progress in using the polymers to enhance cryopreservation of ‘hard to freeze’ cell types and their use in biotechnological and medical applications.