ERI: Single-mode Electromagnetic Resonance (SMER) Heating for the Ultrafast and Uniform Rewarming of Cryopreserved Organs

Organ transplantation is the essential treatment for patients with organ failure. Successful transplantations extend the lives of patients and improve their life quality. Unfortunately, the waiting list for organ transplants keeps growing due to the shortage of available organs. Meanwhile a large fraction of donor organs end up unused because of the lack of long-term organ preservation technology. Long-term cryopreservation and biobanking of organs (cooling and storing them at very low or freezing temperatures to save them for future use) can address the organ shortage crisis in transplantation and save millions of lives every year. However, as the “holy grail” in cryobiology, organ cryopreservation (at temperatures below -150 degrees centigrade) remains an unsolved problem due to critical challenges, in particular, the lack of an efficient approach for ultrafast and uniform heating during rewarming. This project aims to overcome the longstanding barriers in organ cryopreservation by advancing the innovative technology of vitrification (cooling to cryogenic temperatures in the absence of ice) and electromagnetic (EM) heating and developing a transformative technology for the cryopreservation of biological samples with large volume, which addresses the urgent needs in transplantation, regenerative medicine, fertility preservation, biomedical research, and beyond. The project will also encompass significant education activities, expand participation of undergraduate students in the cutting-edge research with a particular focus on underserved groups, extend outreach to the local communities, and foster the development of a diverse and creative workforce to meet the growing demands in cryopreservation. The technical goal of this project is to develop an innovative approach for long-term cryopreservation of organs by ice-free vitrification and single-mode electromagnetic resonance (SMER) heating. To accomplish this goal, the electromagnetic characteristics of multiscale biological systems will be investigated, which will bridge the knowledge gap and lay the foundation of EM heating technology for cryopreservation. The SMER system with automatic control of the resonant state will be further developed based on theoretical simulations and experimental studies to achieve fast and uniform rewarming, prevent organ damage caused by devitrification/recrystallization and thermal stress-induced fractures. Vitrification solutions for organ preservation will be designed not only for high vitrification tendency and low toxicity, but also for fast and uniform rewarming by EM heating, addressing the major issues in cooling and rewarming in a holistic way. To evaluate the approaches, a model organ (e.g., rabbit kidney) will be vitrified with the optimized vitrification solution and protocol, rewarmed by the developed SMER system, and then assessed by in vitro evaluations of the viability and functionalities of kidneys. The technologies, devices, and protocols generated by this project will significantly advance our capability for the long-term cryopreservation of organs and pave the way for future endeavors toward the cryopreservation of human organs and other complex biological systems. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.