Igor l Katkov
Belgorod National State Research University, Russian Federation
Title: Stopping biological time: Science and art of biostabilization
Biography
Biography: Igor l Katkov
Abstract
Biostabilization (a.k.a. biopreservation) is a process that leads to cessation of the basic chemical and biological reactions
so the biosamples can be pooled and stored (biobanked) for long time. There are 5 basics ways of achieving long-term
storage, which ALL essentially lead to vitrification of cells, namely: slow freezing (SF), equilibrium vitrification (E-VF), kinetic
vitrification (K-VF), freeze-drying (lyophilization) and vacuum/air flow drying at temperatures above 0°C (xeropreservation).
Different combinations of the 5 basic biopreservation technologies such a preliminary drying before cryogenic slow freezing
or vitrification is also possible. Author will discuss a phase diagram that shows all 5 basic ways of biostabilization and will
discuss pros and cons of all approaches. A special emphasis will be put on the kinetic vitrification as it does not require the
high concentrations of (or does not need at all) potentially toxic and osmotically damaging exogenous permeable intracellular
vitrificants (also called cryoprotectants). Author will also present KrioBlast-2, a pilot version of the KrioBlast™ platform for
cryopreservation by K-VF. Preliminary experiments on K-VF of human pluripotent stem cells and spermatozoa, which
showed an equally excellent (80-90% of the untreated control) will be also discussed. A more advanced version KrioBlast-3
will be discussed in the concurrent presentation.