Our paper, recently published in Biomacromolecules has been highlighted by Phys.org and the University of Warwick for its potential to revolutionise cell based R+D by making pre-plated assay ready cells a reality.

The full press release from the University of Warwick is below.

Technique for ready-to-use cells in research demonstrated by University of Warwick and Cryologyx     

•  New study validates a University of Warwick-discovered polymer which  protects cells from cold stress and forms part of new CryoShield™  technology

•  The unique polymers allow cells to be stored as adherent monolayers, which current technologies do not allow

•  This technology is set to revolutionise drug screening by making the  process simple and faster, saving researchers and industry weeks

A new technique for freezing cells for use in biomedical  research, based on polymer technology developed at the University of  Warwick, has been validated in study, paving the way for faster results  for scientists in their research.

Cells attached as monolayers  (grown on plastic) are used in drug discovery, toxicology, biomaterials  and in all fundamental research. However, they cannot be cryopreserved  whilst attached to this plastic, creating a major bottleneck.

University  of Warwick technology now allows cells to be stored frozen attached to  the plastic, and are ‘ready to use’ direct from the freezer removing a  significant bottleneck in the drug discovery process.

The ability to freeze and bank cells as monolayers has taken a major step forward, solving a long-term problem in the paper Assay-Ready Cryopreserved Cell Monolayers Enabled by Macromolecular Cryoprotectants published  by the University of Warwick’s Department of Chemistry and Warwick  Medical School, working with the biotech Cryologyx Ltd. Crucial to this  is polymer technology developed over the last decade at the University  of Warwick.

When discovering new drugs, or understanding  fundamental cell biology, most cells are studied whilst attached to  tissue culture plastic (adherent cells). Ideally, researchers would just  take cells out of the freezer, thaw them, and then use them. However,  current cryopreservation technologies only allow cells to be stored in  suspension – researchers must thaw, and then grow, the cells for 7 -14  days before use. This is inefficient and means researchers and industry  spend more time growing the cells, than studying them.

The  GibsonGroup, working with Cryologyx, have solved this long-standing  problem using their macromolecular cryoprotectant technology –  CryoShield™. The cryoprotectants protects the cells against cold stress,  meaning the cells can be taken from the freezer, thawed and in less  than 24 hours rather than the two weeks currently required, then are  ready to use.

This impressive data represents a step-change in  cryopreservation and will facilitate the discovery of new drugs,  identify toxic compounds, screen for viruses and much more. This work  has been supported by a European Research Council Proof of Concept grant  awarded to Professor Matthew Gibson, to translate their team’s research  from the lab to industry, as well as by InnovateUK, the Biotechnology  and Biological Sciences Research Council and Cryologyx Ltd.

Professor Matthew Gibson who holds a joint appointment between the Department of Chemistry and Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick and is a co-founder of Cryologyx comments:  “Cryopreservation is fundamental to so much modern bioscience and  medicine but using current technologies, once you thaw the cells you can  spend two weeks working before you actually get your data. We have a  mission to make the process easier - so you can decide to do an  experiment on Monday, and have the data by the end of Tuesday. This  would save costs and time in drug discovery.

“Our core technology  are macromolecular cryoprotectants – polymers which protect the cells  from cold stress. We are really excited to be able to do the science,  but also translate this into our spin-out company who are developing the  assay-ready cells.”

Dr Thomas Congdon who is CEO and co-founder  of Cryologyx says: “CryoLogyx works directly with cell biologists, in  university research groups, start-ups and SMEs, to large biotech and  pharma companies. Across the board they are excited at the potential  that cryopreserved cell monolayers have for accelerating research and  revolutionising how they work and what they can achieve in the lab.

“We  are incredibly proud to collaborate on the research being carried out  at University of Warwick. This work shows that three of the most used  cell lines in the world can be made truly assay-ready. It is a great  achievement with the potential to save researchers incalculable hours in  lab and reduces the cost of drug discovery programmes by tens, if not  hundreds, of millions of pounds.”

 ‘Assay-Ready Cryopreserved Cell Monolayers Enabled by Macromolecular Cryoprotectants’ is published in Biomacromolecules, DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.2c00791 Link: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.biomac.2c00791