Congratulations to former Society president (2016-2019), Prof. Dayong Gao on his appointment to President-Elect of ISBER!
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Congratulations to former Society president (2016-2019), Prof. Dayong Gao on his appointment to President-Elect of ISBER!
Congratulations to Prof. Boris Rubinsky, the recipient of the 2023 H.R. Lissner Medal!
CALL FOR CRYOFELLOW NOMINATIONS - DEADLINE JULY 31
Past - President, Jason Acker, presents Past-President Dayong Gao with the CryoFellow Medal at CRYO2017.
The CryoFellows Nominations Committee is now soliciting nominations for the appointment of new CryoFellows. This Committee, consisting of three members of the Board of Governors and two CryoFellows, evaluates the nominations and makes recommendations to the Board for approval of new Fellows.
March 28: Nominations Open
July 31: Nominations Close
August - mid-September: Evaluation of nomination materials by Fellow Committee
September: Board of Governors to vote on Fellow Committee recommendations
The Society for Cryobiology established an award and medal of CryoFellow just over a decade ago in recognition of members of the society and individuals from the cryobiology community at large who have had an outstanding impact on the field.
CryoFellows are awarded this prestigious status in recognition of: scientific impact of their research on cryobiology (50%); sustained nature of that impact (20%); generation of scientific offspring (20%); and service to the Society (10%).
There is no formal application form on which to make the nomination, but the documents you provide the committee should be of sufficient depth to support the candidate's contributions to the categories mentioned above in a clear and demonstrable way. Usually, this will mean inclusion with the nomination:
(1) Supporting letters from members of the Society or other major contributors to cryobiology (including one from the nominator); and
(2) a detailed resume for the nominee. I suggest you contact the proposed CryoFellow to discuss their nomination before proceeding and to obtain the resume from the nominee.
Please note the nominated individual must be living at the time that he or she is nominated.
If there is someone you would like to nominate, or you would like to have an informal discussion before proceeding with a nomination, please email me at [email protected].
The nominations committee is now inviting expressions of interest from all Society members in good standing for the following positions
3x Governors (2023 - 2025)
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Nucharin Songsasen and Dr. Kelvin Brockbank as our new Associate Editors for Cryobiology. Alongside Barbara Reed and Wim Wolkers, this brings the total number of Associate Editors to four.
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Dr. Nucharin Songsasen joined the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in 2002. She has led the Global Canid Conservation program within SCBI since 2002, expanding the program's efforts from the laboratory to field conservation in countries such as Brazil, Thailand, and Myanmar. Her laboratory focuses on developing technologies to grow ovarian follicles from domestic dogs and cats in vitro as models for preserving genetics from wild canids and felids. In December 2018 Dr. Songsasen became the head of the Center for Species Survival within SCBI. Dr. Songsasen has been a member of the Cryobiology editorial board since 2012. | |
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Dr. Kelvin Brockbank is the Founder and CEO of Tissue Testing Technologies, Research Professor of Bioengineering at Clemson University, and Adjunct Professor of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology at the Medical University of South Carolina. His research interests include cell, tissue and organ cryopreservation for test systems and transplantation and manufacturing methods for cell-based tissue engineered therapy products. Dr. Brockbank has been a member of the Cryobiology editorial board since 2016. |
Feb. 18, 2021 11AM PT / 2PM ET / 8PM CET / 3AM NEXT DAY CST
The Board of Governors is pleased to announce the recent approval of two new Fellows of the Society for Cryobiology: Erik Woods and Art DeVries. Erik and Art will be presented with their Fellow medals during a special session at CRYO2021, held in Chicago, July 20-23, 2021. Erik Woods
The nominations committee is now inviting expressions of interest from all Society members in good standing for the position of Governor 2021-2023.
Society for Cryobiology Governors take an active role in the decision making that guides the Society. Governors participate in quarterly Board meetings, and take on leadership responsibilities in various Society committees. They may also be involved in leadership roles in other Society activities of their interest, for example the Annual Meeting, or ad hoc projects.
To express your interest please email Chair of the Nominating Committee, President Elect Dr. Greg Fahy. Please note all nominations are subject to approval by the nominations committee. This does not affect your right to nomination by petition as outlined in the society's bylaws.
If your candidate nomination is accepted you will need to provide a detailed biography, statement outlining your vision for the Society, and a photograph for the election materials.
The deadline to express your interest in standing as a candidate for Governor is September 14, 2020. The election will be held October 12-26, 2020.
The 2020 nominating committee is:
Greg Fahy (Chair, President-Elect)
Adam Higgins (President)
Steven Mullen (Treasurer)
Erik Woods (Governor)
Ido Braslavsky (Governor)
Written by Estefania Paredes (University of Vigo, ES), Dominic Olver (University of Saskatchewan, CA), Peter Kilbride (Asymptote Ltd., UK)
The Society for Low Temperature Biology annual meeting took place in the sunny and welcoming city of Seville (Spain) for its 55th edition in October 2-4th, 2019. The meeting started with a workshop in collaboration with the Stem User group (SCUG) and the Andalusian Initiative for Advanced therapies.
The Royan Institute held their third cryobiology and biobanking symposium on February 27, 2019, in Tehran, Iran. The Royan Institute was established in 1991 as a public non-profit research institute for reproductive biomedicine and infertility treatments. Today Royan consists of three research institutes:
University College London (UCL) and the Royal Free London Hospital have announced a new ovarian tissue bank to preserve the fertility of girls and women about to undergo treatment for cancer.
The publically funded initiative will be led by UCL academic Dr. Paul Hardiman (UCL Institute of Women's Health) and consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Royal Free Hospital in London, with consultation by Society for Cryobiology Fellow, Prof. Barry Fuller, head of research for the UCL Division of Surgery, and Prof. Mark Lowdell, UCL director of Cellular Therapeutics.
Worldwide there have been approximately 100 live births following ovarian tissue preservation and subsequent reimplantation on the remaining ovary or into the lining of the abdominal cavity.
Dr. Hardiman, tissue bank director, said: “We have modelled our protocols on how it is done at the Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, one of the largest hospitals in Denmark, where they have been freezing human ovarian tissue since 1999. This is a well-established method in Europe, the US and Japan but the UK has lagged behind and patients often faced having to go abroad and pay to receive this treatment. At a time when patients need to concentrate on life-saving therapies this intervention needs to take place as quickly as possible.”
“What makes the Royal Free London so ideally suited to provide this service is that we have a unique mix of facilities and expertise in tissue freezing and cell therapy including Professor Barry Fuller, head of research for the UCL Division of Surgery and Interventional Science and Professor Mark Lowdell, director of Cellular Therapeutics. We are also a leading kidney and liver transplant centre and the principle UK centre for cell and tissue medicines which has helped facilitate approval from the Human Tissue Authority. We are very grateful for the support from the Royal Free Charity over the past seven years which funded Natalie Getreu*, a PhD student, who played an important role in enabling us to bring this to patients.”
*Society for Cryobiology student member, Natalie Getreu, presented her PhD research for the Ovarian Tissue Bank at CRYO2017 and CRYO2016.
Prof. W. John Armitage has recently been awarded an OBE for services to corneal transplantation in the Queen's New Year Honours list.
John is the Head of Research and Development for Ocular Tissue, NHS Blood and Transplant, Emeritus Professor, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, and former Director of Bristol Tissue Bank, which comprised the Bristol Eye Bank and Bristol Heart Valve Bank.
John completed his PhD in cardiac cryopreservation and research posts in Cambridge, UK and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA, before joining the Department of Opthamology in Bristol, UK, where he set up the Bristol Eye Bank to carry out research into corneal preservation.
The Bristol Eye Bank, one of the largest eye banks in Europe, is home to the UK's Corneal Transplant Service (CTS), which provides corneas to hospitals across the UK. Since 1986 the CTS has provided corneal transplants for over 70,000 patients through the UK's National Health Service (NHS). Although funded by the NHS, management of the eye bank remained at Bristol until 2015, at which time it was transferred to the National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), the public body overseeing all blood, organ, and tissue transplants in the UK.
One of the major breakthroughs of the CTS was the introduction of 34°C (93°F) organ culture storage, which extended the life of transplants from a few days, to approximately four weeks. This transformed the face of corneal transplantation in the UK by improving logistics and supply, allowing transplants to be scheduled weeks in advance, as opposed to emergency surgery.
Speaking of his award, John said, "I am delighted to have my work recognised in this way, which also reflects the significant impact of the work of the Bristol Eye Bank and acknowledges the collective effort of NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and Bristol University staff, ophthalmology colleagues in Bristol Eye Hospital and hospitals throughout the UK, and the support of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. However, above all, it is the thoughtfulness and generosity of the families of eye donors, without whom corneal transplantation would not be possible, that truly merit the thanks of patients and their doctors."
John is the current President of the European Eye Bank Association, of which he was a founding member, Associate Editor of Cryobiology, and a long time member and former Governor of the Society for Cryobiology.