Table of Contents

1. Message from the President
2. Membership Renewal
3. Election Results
4. PhD Opportunity
5. Upcoming Events
6. Cryobiology Journal

Do you have any news, reviews, articles, vacancies or training opportunities to share in the Spring newsletter?

If so please email them to the editorial team at [email protected]

2014 Officers

President
Erik J. Woods

President-Elect
Jason Acker

Past-President
John H. Crowe

Secretary
Yuksel Agca

Treasurer
Adam Higgins

2014 Board of Governors

Serean Adams
W. John Armitage
James D. Benson
Gloria D. Elliot
Eric James
Jens O. M. Karlsson
Barbara M. Reed
Andreas Sputtek
Tiantian Zhang

Message from the President

Happy Holidays from the Society for Cryobiology! As we will soon be looking back on 2014 and ahead to the New Year, there continues to be many positive developments that will make 2015 special for the Society.

First, please join me in welcoming our newest members of the Board of Governors:

• Barbara Reed (re-elected)
• Wim Wolkers
• Gang Zhao

We are all looking forward to your service!

There are also several updates as we continue preparing for Cryo2015 (www.cryo2015.com), the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Cryobiology to be held in Ostrava, Czech Republic July 26th- 29th. Abstract submission is now open! The deadline for submission is not yet finalized, but please submit your work as early as you can to help with organization. For student awards, please note the link on the left hand side of the website for additional information and the abstract template for submission.

We are also developing some very nice social programs for us to interact away from the lecture halls, and are working to bring together some productive interactions with end users of our science as well as continuing our overall emphasis on fundamental science.

We have several exciting programs coming together, please continue to check the website for updates and there is still time for final ideas. Please forward any questions to me or to Dr. Procházka, below.

Václav Procházka, MD, PhD,
Chairman, Local Organizing Committee
[email protected]

Erik J. Woods, PhD
Co-Chair, Local Organizing Committee
[email protected]

There are also updates pending on the Position of Association Executive which was described in the last edition of NewsNotes. The executive committee has now completed final interviews and will be presenting a recommendation to the Board of Governors early in the new year. We will notify membership directly once the process is complete.

Finally, we have more exciting news on the Organ Preservation Alliance which is an independent group that has now announced The First Global Organ Banking Summit and First-Ever US Government Grant Programs Targeting Organ Banking & Complex Tissue Cryopreservation.

As we discussed at Cryo2014 and in the last edition of News Notes, there are many positive opportunities for our members coming out of the of the Organ Preservation Alliance, here are two timely ones:

The first Global Organ Banking Summit

The alliance has made great on progress on the first global summit on “The Grand Challenges in Organ Preservation,” which is to be held in Silicon Valley, February 26-28, 2015.

• Opening day conference at Stanford's bio-x campus, hosted by the Biomedical Engineering Society at Stanford
• Side activities at SU Labs at NASA Research Park in Mountain View
• The rest of the summit will take place at the Sheraton Palo Alto

Confirmed key speakers and participants include world-leading scientists from cryobiology and related scientific fields as well as from biotech, vc, government, military, stakeholder, organizations and transplant, trauma and regenerative medicine

I’ve seen the roster of confirmed speakers to date and it is one of the strongest ones I can recall – it includes international leaders across these fields.

The Alliance has some limited funds available to help support international travel.
For more info please contact: [email protected] COO and Summit Producer

First-Ever US Government Grant Programs Targeting Organ Banking & Complex Tissue Cryo

After pushing hard for government agencies to support organ cryobanking research, the Organ Preservation Alliance’s efforts have started to pay off.

The U.S. Department of Defense just 10 days ago officially announced the "pre-release" of three separate, but complementary, organ cryopreservation grant calls (that are to a large extent based on key input from the Organ Preservation Alliance and their scientific advisors (which include many of SfC fellows and board members) and broader network).

These are the first-ever US government funded grant calls that are explicitly targeted towards organ and other complex tissue cryopreservation. Importantly, this is not just relevant to our US membership. The Alliance can help with on advice on how also non-US teams may be able to access some of these funds via partnerships with US teams.

Across the three targeted cryo grant topics, it should be very possible for great proposals from a single strong team to land $3 - 3.5 million dollars across different phase 1 and phase 2 awards.

Topic 1 - Optimization of Cryoprotectants, Cryotherapeutics, and Protocols for Cryopreservation of Large Tissue Systems

From the Defense Health Program

DHP15-013, at www.dodsbir.net/solicitation/sbir151/dhp151.htm


Topic 2 - Optimal Rewarming Solutions for Cryopreserved Tissue Systems

From the Defense Health Program

DHP15-014, at www.dodsbir.net/solicitation/sbir151/dhp151.htm


Topic 3 - Cryopreservation for Regenerative Medical Applications

From the Army Innovation Research Program

A15-059, at www.dodsbir.net/solicitation/sbir151/army151.htm

The Alliance is available to provide various forms of support to help your application succeed. In the same way that they have helped and are helping some of the SfC member’s with their DARPA Biological Technologies applications, they can, for example, help with ideas on DoD interest and focus areas, help with narratives, data and references, and help with team formation, etc.

They can share this via email for those who are interested. For more information contact Jedd Lewis at [email protected] and Sebastian Giwa at [email protected]

You can also see how world leading transplant surgeons and cryobiology scientist herald this move by the DoD at www.organpreservationalliance.org/pressrelease

Very exciting times indeed to be a cryobiologist and a member of our Society! We will keep you informed of more progress on all of these topics in the months to come. Thank you for your continued commitment to science and to the Society for Cryobiology.

Sincerely,
Erik J. Woods, PhD
President, Society for Cryobiology

2015 Membership Renewal

Renew by January 15 to save $20 off the cost of membership!

If you have looked at the society's website recently you may have noticed some changes to the way membership is structured.  Online membership is now standard, with options available to add a print subscription and a donation to aid in work of the society.  This allows greatly flexibility in how you choose to structure your membership, creating a tailor made package that suits your requirements.

• To renew simply visit the membership renewal page of the website and select your required options from the Paypal menu to pay online with a debit/credit card.
• Wire transfer and check payment is also available and instructions can be found on the membership renewal form.
• No payment is necessary for students and retired members wishing to take out an online subscription only - simply email the editorial office a completed renewal form.

Please note renewals received over Christmas and the New Year will be processed in January.

2014 Election for Board of Governors

• Barbara Reed USA (re-elected)

Barbara has been involved in plant science research for over 30 years.  Since 1985 she has conducted research at the USDA-ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository on alternative storage techniques for clonal germplasm, including in vitro culture, in vitro cold storage, and cryopreservation of shoot tips of temperate fruit and speciality crops. 

• Willem Wolkers Germany

Wim Wolkers was appointed as a professor at the Institute of Multiphase Processes, Leibniz University of Hannover, where he is leading a group "Biomedical Process Technology" within the cluster of excellence from Regenerative Biology to Reconstructive Therapy" (REBIRTH).  His research interests include membrane biophysics, protein stability, transport processes, freeze-drying, and solving preservation problems in medicine.

• Gang Zhao China

Gang Zhao is a professor,  vice director of the Biomedical Research Center, and director of the Laboratory of Cryo-Biomedical Engineering at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC).  His research interests include the fundamentals and applications of micro and nanofluidics, biomedical microsystems and intelligent medical instruments in cryobiology. 

With such an internationally diverse membership it's great to see the Board reflecting this, with the 2015 line-up featuring governors from the USA, Canada, the UK, Germany, China and New Zealand.

With the election of these new board members we must sadly bid farewell to Andreas Sputtek (Germany) and Eric James (USA). Thank-you Andreas and Eric for your hard work and dedication to the society over the past three years.

PhD Opportunity

Université de Moncton, Canada

microRNA dynamics in cold-hardy insects

A position is available for a PhD student to join the laboratory of Dr. Pier Jr Morin at the Université de Moncton in New Brunswick, Canada, in January 2015. The primary objective of our research program is to characterize the regulatory mechanisms involved in insect cold tolerance. Survival at low temperatures requires tight control of cellular signaling pathways and this program seeks to better understand the network of molecular interactions necessary for cold survival in the freeze tolerant goldenrod gall fly Eurosta solidaginis and the freeze avoiding moth Epiblema scudderiana. While metabolic activity is greatly reduced at sub-zero temperatures, these insect models are nonetheless capable of surviving this stress by depressing energy-consuming processes and activating selected signaling pathways required for survival. Even though research performed in this field has identified multiple signaling cascades and associated enzymes that are modulated in the cold, data is limited regarding a family of recently discovered small noncoding RNAs named microRNAs (miRNAs). The current project will aim to identify a cold-associated miRNA expression signature and to characterize the processes of miRNA biogenesis and turnover in cold-hardy insects using a variety of molecular and biochemical techniques.

Significant financial support is available for qualified graduate student. If interested, send an email along with your most recent resume to [email protected]. Please note that Université de Moncton is a French-speaking institution and, as such, applicants should have basic understanding of the French language.

 Upcoming Events

Organ Preservation Alliance Summit: The Grand Challenges in Organ Preservation
26-28 February, 2015
Silicon Valley, CA, USA

The first global Organ Banking Summit is bringing together world leading scientists in cryobiology and other fields, as well as other key stakeholders, to identify and tackle key medical challenges in an effort to revolutionize transplant medicine.

The summit is 2.5 days with additional fundraising events, a gala dinner, a young investigator/student hackathon, and other pre- and post-summit festivities - all taking place in Silicon Valley.

• Laying Foundations: Spanning diverse contexts, creating high-impact environments
• Paddling Upstream: Coupling valid downstream assay results to biospecimen quality and management
• Building Bridges: Engaging participants, communities, and the public in human and enviro-bio specimen repositories.

For further information please visit http://www.isber2015.org/

CRYO2015
July 26-29, 2015
Ostrava, Czech Republic

Planning is well underway for the Society for Cryobiology's 52nd annual conference to be held in Ostrava, Czech Republic in July. Abstracts are currently being sought and registration is open. Suggestions for symposia are also welcome - simply contact a member of the organizing committee.

Student Members: Applications for the student awards are due by January 31. For more information on how to apply please see student awards page of the conference website. 

For further information please visit http://www.cryo2015.com

Cryobiology Journal

• Foundations of modeling in cryobiology—I: Concentration, Gibbs energy, and chemical potential relationships
  Daniel M. Anderson, James D. Benson, Anthony J. Kearsley

• Milrinone ameliorates cardiac mechanical dysfunction after hypothermia in an intact rat model
  Erik Sveberg Dietrichs, Timofei Kondratiev, Torkjel Tveita
  
  
• A scale down process for the development of large volume cryopreservation
  Peter Kilbride, G. John Morris, Stuart Milne, Barry Fuller, Jeremy Skepper, Clare Selden
  
  
• Survival of tissue balls from the coral Pocillopora damicornis L. exposed to cryoprotectant solutions
  Lionel Feuillassier, Lucie Martinez, Pascal Romans, Isabelle Engelmann-Sylvestre, Patrick Masanet, Dominique Barthélémy, Florent Engelmann
  
  
• Inhibition of ROS production through mitochondria-targeted antioxidant and mitochondrial uncoupling increases post-thaw sperm viability in yellow catfish.
  Lu Fang, Chenglian Bai, Yuanhong Chen, Jun Dai, Yang Xiang, Xiaoping Ji, Changjiang Huang, Qiaoxiang Dong
  
  
• The protective role of antifreeze protein 3 on the structure and function of mature mouse oocytes in vitrification
  Yan Wen, Shuqin Zhao, Lan Chao, Hongling Yu, Changzheng Song, Yanjun Shen, Honglei Chen, Xiaohui Deng
  
  
• Cardiovascular effects of levosimendan during rewarming from hypothermia in rat
  Erik Sveberg Dietrichs, Brage Håheim, Timofei Kondratiev, Gary C. Sieck, Torkjel Tveita
  
  
• 24-gauge ultrafine cryoprobe with diameter of 550 μm and its cooling performance
  Junnosuke Okajima, Atsuki Komiya, Shigenao Maruyama
  
  
• The interfering effects of superovulation and vitrification upon some important epigenetic biomarkers in mouse blastocyst
  Azizollah Bakhtari, Hamid-Reza Rahmani, Elham Bonakdar, Farnoosh Jafarpour, Vajiheh Asgari, Sayyed-Mortaza Hosseini, Mehdi Hajian, Mohammad-Ali Edriss, Mohammad-Hossein Nasr-Esfahani
  
  
• Developmental competence and gene expression of immature oocytes following liquid helium vitrification in bovine
  Jun-Yi Chen, Xiao-Xia Li, Ya-Kun Xu, Hua Wu, Jun-Jun Zheng, Xue-Li Yu
  
  
• Alternative procedures for the cryopreservation of brown bear ejaculates depending on the flexibility of the “in cooling” period (5 °C)
  E. López-Urueña, M. Alvarez, S. Gomes-Alves, P. Manrique, L. Anel-López, C.A. Chamorro, S. Borragan, P. de Paz, L. Anel
  
  
• Measurement of the biophysical properties of porcine adipose-derived stem cells by a microperfusion system
  Jianye Wang, Gang Zhao, Pengfei Zhang, Zhen Wang, Yunhai Zhang, Dayong Gao, Ping Zhou, Yunxia Cao
  
  
• Hatching, survival and deformities of piracanjuba (Brycon orbignyanus) embryos subjected to different cooling protocols
  Maria do Carmo Faria Paes, Regiane Cristina da Silva, Nivaldo Ferreira do Nascimento, Fernanda Nogueira Valentin, José Augusto Senhorini, Laura Satiko Okada Nakaghi
  
  
• Cryoprotective therapy for huge hepatocellular carcinoma: A study of 14 patients with a single lesion
  Mohammed Alnaggar, Lizhi Niu, Jialiang Li, Fei Yao, Yuan Wang, Jianying Zeng, Jin Ye, Jibing Chen, Feng Mu, Kecheng Xu
  
  
• Cryopreservation of rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss spermatozoa: Effects of extender supplemented with different antioxidants on sperm motility, velocity and fertility
  Filiz Kutluyer, Murathan Kayim, Fatih Öğretmen, Serhat Büyükleblebici, P. Barbaros Tuncer
  
  
• Cryoprotective effect of phosphorous-containing phenolic anti-oxidant for the cryopreservation of beluga sperm
  V.P. Osipova, M.N. Kolyada, N.T. Berberova, E.R. Milaeva, E.N. Ponomareva, M.M. Belaya
  
  
• Use of hypometabolic TRIS extenders and high cooling rate refrigeration for cryopreservation of stallion sperm: Presence and sensitivity of 5′ AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)
  Alex Córdova, Pablo Strobel, Andrés Vallejo, Pamela Valenzuela, Omar Ulloa, Rafael A. Burgos, Bruno Menarim, Joan Enric Rodríguez-Gil, Marcelo Ratto, Alfredo Ramírez-Reveco
  
  
• Antioxidant effects of clove bud (Syzygium aromaticum) extract used with different extenders on ram spermatozoa during cryopreservation
  H. Baghshahi, A. Riasi, A.H. Mahdavi, A. Shirazi
  
  
• Determination of heat transfer coefficients in plastic French straws plunged in liquid nitrogen
  M. Victoria Santos, M. Sansinena, J. Chirife, N. Zaritzky
  
  Brief Communications
  
  
• Cytochalasin B efficiency in the cryopreservation of immature bovine oocytes by Cryotop and solid surface vitrification methods
  Nucharin Sripunya, Yuanyuan Liang, Kanchana Panyawai, Kanokwan Srirattana, Apichart Ngernsoungnern, Piyada Ngernsoungnern, Mariena Ketudat-Cairns, Rangsun Parnpai
  
  
• Motility and fertility of cryopreserved semen in Persian sturgeon, Acipenser persicus, stored for 30–60 min after thawing
  Mohammad Sadegh Aramli, Rajab Mohammad Nazari

• Cryobiology streamed abstracts from the World Forum on Biology, held in conjunction with the Society for In Vitro Biology, May 31 - June 4, 2014, Savannah, GA, USA.