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!

Fellow Nominations Open 

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. 

		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.
		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.

The nominations committee is now inviting expressions of interest from all Society members in good standing for the following positions

• President-Elect (2022 - 2023) --> President (2024-2025)
• Treasurer (2022 - 2023)
  
• Secretary (2022 - 2023)
• 3x Governors (2022 - 2024) 

The President-Elect, Treasurer, and Secretary form the Society for Cryobiology's Executive Committee, along with the President and Executive Director. They hold monthly meetings to discuss current Society business. They also partake in the quarterly Board of Governors meetings, and other duties outlined below. Specifics relating to these roles can be found in the Society's bylaws. 

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 or for an informal discussion regarding the various roles please email Executive Director, Nicole Evans. 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 or you are nominated by petition you will be required 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 Monday August 16, 2021. The election will be held October 11-25, 2021.

WEBINAR - ENDING COVID-19: THE VACCINE, TECHNOLOGY, AND LOGISTICS CHALLENGES

Feb. 18, 2021 11AM PT / 2PM ET / 8PM CET / 3AM NEXT DAY CST

Vancouver-January 12, 2021--The International Society for the Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER), which represents professional experts in biobanking, ultra-low temperature (ULT) storage, and cold chain management, has released its position statement listing key practices health agencies should consider to support the COVID-19 vaccine distribution with dedicated ULT freezers. The document, titled "Ultra Low Temperature Freezers: Key Considerations," provides evidence based guidance for those responsible for distribution, storage, and management of the vaccine, to resources that detail the fundamentals of safe and efficient ULT freezer management, shipping, and distribution.

"The global biobanking community has consolidated our knowledge and expertise into a brief one page resource. We aim to minimize the learning curve and to help people and health agencies new to ultra-low temperature storage avoid common pitfalls," said Piper Mullins, President-Elect of ISBER.

The document draws on accepted practices known to ensure robust ULT product storage and distribution that are routinely used by biorepositories. The document represents a consensus view from the biobanking community. The organization drew on the expertise of biorepository managers and industry vendors with further reference from the ISBER Best Practices, Fourth Edition. The statement intends to supplement guidance from national and local health agencies on managing the cold chain deployment of frozen COVID-19 vaccines.

 "We want ISBER to be the go-to resource for the growing number of people who are just learning about ultra-low storage and handling during this fraught time," said Associate Professor Daniel Catchpoole, President of ISBER. "As a scientific community who are experts in cold chain logistics of biological specimens, it is vital that our national health agencies draw on the expertise ISBER provides to guide the proper management of freezers for the distribution of biological therapeutics." 

To learn more about the association please visit www.isber.org.

About the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories

ISBER (www.isber.org) is the only global forum that addresses harmonization of scientific, technical, legal, and ethical issues relevant to repositories of biological and environmental specimens. ISBER fosters collaboration; creates education and training opportunities; provides a forum for the dissemination of state-of-the-art policies, processes, and research findings; and provides an international showcase for innovative technologies, products, and services. Together, these activities promote best practices that cut across the broad range of repositories that ISBER serves.

About the ISBER Best Practices

The ISBER Best Practices: Recommendations for Repositories Fourth Edition presents the most effective practices for the management of biological and environmental specimen collections and repositories. These are either evidence-based or consensus-based practices for collection, long-term storage, retrieval, and distribution of specimens. Development of best practices is a rigorous, consensus-based process that reflects advances in research and technology. To access, please visit: https://www.isber.org/page/BPR.

New Fellows Announced

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

Governor Nominations Open

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)

As my term as President of the Society for Cryobiology draws to a close, I would to express my deep appreciations and to reflect on the achievements of our society during the previous two years. 

Firstly, my sincere thanks go to my fellow Board of Governors, and particularly the Executive Committee members: Dr. Adam Higgins (President-Elect), Dr. Andy Shu (Treasurer) and Dr. Yuksel Agca (Secretary). The Executive and Board of Governors give their time freely and generously for the betterment and advancement of the Society, for which we cannot thank them enough. 

I would also like to acknowledge and thank Executive Director, Nicole Evans, for her continued and distinguished work in leading planning, development and administration for the Society. I must also thank the tireless and outstanding work of Dr. David Rawson, Editor-in-Chief, of Cryobiology and the excellent Editorial Board, who contribute their tremendous time and efforts to review the journal’s submissions to ensure the high quality and publication standard.

The Society has made many great strides during my term as President. I am exceptionally proud to have overseen the introduction of two new awards of our Society, both inaugurally awarded in 2019. Firstly, the Dayong Gao Young Investigator Award (sponsored by the GoldSim) to recognize a most outstanding young researcher in their early career, and secondly, the Arthur W. Rowe Cryobiology Best Paper Award, to recognize the most outstanding research article published in the journal each year. Furthermore, the Board of Governors is currently finalizing the Peter Mazur Prize (a Lifetime Achievement Award), which will recognize individuals who have reached the highest level of devotion and achievement in the field of cryobiology. 

I have continued to focus on forging new collaborations and strengthening and renewing familiar ties, with a number of signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with ISBER, ISCT, Knect365, and others. One of the most exciting collaborations of the last two years has been the co-publication with ISBER of the freely downloadable Liquid Nitrogen Best Practices Addendum. If you have not yet had the chance to read it, I highly recommend it.

With regard to the Annual Meeting, the Society for Cryobiology has now completed the transition period from local organizing committee to in-house organization, with Nicole leading logistics for CRYO2018 in Madrid, and logistics and fundraising for CRYO2019 in San Diego. She will continue to lead logistics and fundraising for CRYO2020 in Chicago, and beyond. One of her current focuses is to establish and cement relationships with key industry individuals to secure the financial viability and profitability of the meeting.  

As cryobiologists, we are entering a new era when cryobiology has a unique and significant contribution and impact on almost every major biological/biomedical research and application area. A once opaque science shrouded in mystery (and liquid nitrogen vapors!) has captured the attention of the public through mainstream news/articles on tissue engineering, biobanking, cellular-gene therapy, artificial organs, tissue-organ transplantation, regenerative medicine, and precision-personalized medicine. With this diverse range of applications and growing public acknowledgement, this is an exciting time for the field, its scientists and end users, and the Society for Cryobiology.

Lastly, I must thank you, our members for electing me to the position of President and allowing me the opportunity to lead the Society for Cryobiology. As each President builds upon the momentum of his predecessor, I trust I leave the Society healthy, strong, and resilient for new incoming President, Dr. Adam Higgins, who takes the reins 2020-2021. 

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Cheers,

Dayong Gao, Ph.D
President,
Society for Cryobiology

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 55^th edition in October 2-4^th, 2019. The meeting started with a workshop in collaboration with the Stem User group (SCUG) and the Andalusian Initiative for Advanced therapies.

A team of medics at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine have announced their first attempt at placing a human in suspended animation. The Federal Drug Administration approved the team for 10 trials where a patient will be rapidly cooled to 10-15 °C by replacing their blood with ice-cold saline, ceasing nearly all brain activity. Hypothetically, medical professionals then have up to 2 hours to operate before the "suspended" patient is rewarmed and their heart started again. The team's trial procedure officially called Emergency Preservation and Resuscitation (EPR), is only allowed to be trialed on acute trauma victims (i.e. gunshot or stab wounds) who have already suffered cardiac arrest and have less than a 5% survival rate.
Read the full article HERE.

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: 

New UCL and Royal Free Ovarian Tissue Bank

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. 

W. John Armitage named Officer of the British Empire (OBE) 

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.