Thermal Analyses of a Human Kidney and a Rabbit Kidney During Cryopreservation by Vitrification.

This study focuses on thermal analysis of the problem of scaling up from the vitrification of rabbit kidneys to the vitrification of human kidneys, where vitrification is the preservation of biological material in the glassy state. The basis for this study is a successful cryopreservation protocol for a rabbit kidney model, based on using a proprietary vitrification solution known as M22. Using the finite element analysis (FEA) commercial code ANSYS, heat transfer simulations suggest that indeed the rabbit kidney unquestionably cools rapidly enough to be vitrified based on known intrarenal concentrations of M22.

The Grand Challenges of Organ Banking: Proceedings from the first global summit on complex tissue cryopreservation.

The first Organ Banking Summit was convened from Feb. 27 - March 1, 2015 in Palo Alto, CA, with events at Stanford University, NASA Research Park, and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. Experts at the summit outlined the potential public health impact of organ banking, discussed the major remaining scientific challenges that need to be overcome in order to bank organs, and identified key opportunities to accelerate progress toward this goal.