On the equilibrium limit of liquid stability in pressurized aqueous systems

Exciting Research Published in Nature Communications!

ATP-Bio is thrilled to share the new publication, "On the equilibrium limit of liquid stability in pressurized aqueous systems", authored by Arian Zarriz, Baptiste Journaux, and Matthew J. Powell-Palm.

This work explores the absolute thermodynamic limits of freezing in aqueous brines. Using isochoric freezing and melting, the authors measure the “cenotectic point” (from Greek, meaning “universal melt”) for the first time. The findings have fascinating implications for ocean worlds in our solar system, cold ocean exoplanets, and estimating ice crust thickness and final ocean depths at cenotectic pressures.

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Author information:

Arian Zarriz:

J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

Matthew J. Powell-Palm:

J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

Baptiste Journaux:

Department of Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

Citation: Zarriz, A., Journaux, B., & J., M. (2024). On the equilibrium limit of liquid stability in pressurized aqueous systems. Nature Communications, 15(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54625-z

Scientists propose plan to store bio samples on the Moon

Researchers at the University of Minnesota are partnering with scientists across the country to propose a plan that could safeguard Earth’s endangered biodiversity through storage on the moon at extremely low temperatures. 

Credit: iStock

Published in BioScience, the study led by the Smithsonian Institution outlines a roadmap for the creation of a lunar biorepository. The paper proposes an approach for governance, the types of biological material to be stored, and a plan for experiments to address challenges like radiation and microgravity.

Read more about the great work conducted by our very own scientists/professors, Dr. Susan Wolf, Dr John Bischof and researchers at the Smithsonian who were pivotal in developing the lunar biorepository concept. Dr. Bischof contributed his strong background in engineering and cryopreservation techniques, while Wolf provided expert advice on the ethics and governance issues.

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Prof. Susan Wolf Part of National Research Group Proposing a Plan to Store Bio Samples on the Moon

Susan M. Wolf
Regents Professor and McKnight Presidential Professor of Law, Medicine & Public Policy
Faegre Drinker Professor of Law
Professor of Medicine

Professor Susan M. Wolf and researchers at the University of Minnesota are partnering with scientists across the country to propose a plan that could safeguard Earth’s endangered biodiversity through storage on the Moon at extremely low temperatures.  Read more …

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Smithsonian Scientists Devise Method to Secure Earth’s Biodiversity on the Moon

Proposed Lunar Biorepository Could Store Genetic Samples Without Electricity or Liquid Nitrogen

New research led by scientists at the Smithsonian proposes a plan to safeguard Earth’s imperiled biodiversity by cryogenically preserving biological material on the moon. The moon’s permanently shadowed craters are cold enough for cryogenic preservation without the need for electricity or liquid nitrogen, according to the researchers.  Read more …

ATP-Bio Director, Dr. John Bischof, recipient of the Heat Transfer Memorial Award in Science

Congratulations to ATP-Bio’s Director, Dr. John Bischof, on being awarded the Heat Transfer Memorial Award in Science from ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) at the Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting 2024 for his outstanding contributions to the field of heat transfer with cryopreservation and ATP-Bio.

Heat Transfer Memorial Award

The Heat Transfer Memorial Award is bestowed on individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of heat transfer through teaching, research, practice, design, service, leadership, inventions, or a combination of such activities.

One award may be made annually in each of the three following categories: the science of heat transfer, the art of heat transfer, and the general subject of heat transfer. Each of the three categories of science, art and general is based on achievements through publications, patents and/or inventions, advancement of educational content and/or pedagogy, or exemplary community service with a focus on heat transfer.

ATP-Bio Y5 RFP and SIRP Awardees Announced

Greetings ATP-Bio Community & Member Partners!

The Convergent Research (CR) and Innovation Ecosystem (IE) Pillars are pleased to announce the ATP-Bio Request for Proposals (RFP/SIRP) released in April 2024 attracted a lot of interest! We received a total of 20 proposals between the ATP-Bio Convergent Research Program (RFP003) and the ATP-Bio Stakeholder-Inspired Research Program (SIRP004). 

There were many excellent proposals this cycle and it was a challenge to select awardees from among them. Based on a range of selection criteria as well as ATP-Bio's programmatic needs (which took a bit longer than expected), we finally identified the projects that will receive funding in Y5 for a period of one year beginning September 2024.

Congratulations to the following research teams for their new ATP-Bio funded activity!

ATP-Bio Y5 RFP003 Awardees

• Multiday isochoric supercooling of porcine and human kidneys
  Ronald Sellers, Jon Bova, Elaheh Rahbar, Matthew Powell-Palm (TAMU), Anthony Consiglio, Boris Rubinsky (UCB), James Gardner, Heiko Yang (UCSF), Tim Pruett (UMN)

• Xeroprotection/cryopreservation for insects in agriculture: developments for a bio-economy & circular economy
  Jeff Tomberlin (TAMU), Amanda Neisch (UMN)

• An active learning based approach to CPA cocktail optimization
  Daniel Emerson, Yoed Rabin, Levent Burak Kara (CMU), Purva Joshi, Rebecca Sandlin (MGH)

• Laser-induced periodic mesh-like structures for high-throughput cryopreservation
  Balaji Baska, Carla Berrospe Rodriguez, Guillermo Aguilar (TAMU), Zongqi Guo, Michael Etheridge, John Bischof (UMN)

ATP-Bio Y5 SIRP004 Awardees

• Time-temperature indicator based on magnetic colloidal assembly for cold-chain food transport
  Haopu Liang, Yongsheng Gao, Wenliang Song, Yadong Yin (UCR)

• Isochoric preservation of human breastmilk
  Alan Maida, Tony Consiglio, Boris Rubinsky (UCB), Cristina Bilbao (USDA), Matt Pollew-Palm (TAMU)

Cool it down ...

How isochoric preservation can protect food, organs — and even the planet

Tony Consiglio, Alan Maida and Boris Rubinsky in their Etcheverry Hall lab.
(Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

“If you want to keep something forever, you need to store it at cryogenic temperatures, but ice kills biological tissues. So, how do we get cryogenic temperatures without the ice?” asks Boris Rubinsky, Professor of the Graduate School at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and professor emeritus of bioengineering.

Read the full article in Berkely Engineer magazine featuring the ATP-Bio team at the University of California - Berkely.

Endangered species are dying out on Earth. Could they be saved in outer space?

Endangered species are dying out on Earth. Could they be saved in outer space?

“Plants and animals are dying off at an unprecedented rate on Earth. Some scientists are looking to outer space for a solution. 

The idea is called a lunar biorepository, a facility that maintains and stores plant and animal cells. But instead of on Earth, this would be on the moon. 

Why the moon?  “ … READ MORE

Dr. Boris Rubinsky named 2023 National Academy of Inventors Fellow

Dr. Boris Rubinsky, our Thrust Area 2 Co-Lead and Professor at UC Berkeley, was named a 2023 fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) for his new technology inventions in the field of medicine and biomaterials!

Two UC Berkeley engineers elected to the National Academy of Inventors

UC Berkeley engineering professors Ashok Gadgil and Boris Rubinsky are among 162 inventors named 2023 fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the organization announced today (Tuesday, Dec. 12). Election as a fellow in the academy is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors.

Article by Kara Manke … READ MORE

Ashok Gadgil (left) is a distinguished professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering and Boris Rubinsky is a professor of bioengineering and mechanical engineering. (Courtesy of Berkely Engineering)

Eunice L. Dwan Chair for Diabetes Research Awarded to Dr. Erik Finger

Dr. Erik Finger is the recipient of the Eunice L. Dwan Chair for Diabetes Research Award and will be honored at a reception at the Campus Club on December 1, 2023. All are welcome.

Erik Finger, MD, Ph.D.

Professor, Division of Transplantation

What Am I Thankful for This Year? Amazing Scientific Discoveries

https://www.nytimes.com/.../thanksgiving-science...

Congratulations to ATP-Bio Director John Bischof and his research team for the New York Times shout out on his groundbreaking research!

University of Minnesota researchers reported this year that they had managed to preserve rat kidneys for 100 days at ultralow temperatures, rewarm them, and successfully transplant them into other rats. That’s fantastic news for rats, but also for people with failing kidneys.

The researchers infused the kidneys with protective fluids and iron oxide nanoparticles and then rapidly cooled them without forming ice crystals. The main advance was rewarming them from within, rapidly and uniformly, by placing them in an alternating magnetic field that caused the nanoparticles to oscillate and generate heat, as Science and Scientific American explained. The researchers hope to start trials on human-scale organs.

ERC Integration Director, Researcher, and UMN Professor, Dr Rhonda Franklin, featured IEEE Journal of Microwaves

Women in Microwaves: Rhonda Franklin

Rhonda Franklin, Ph.D.
McKnight Presidential Endowed Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Professor Rhonda Franklin was one of only six African-Americans graduating with engineering PhDs in the U.S. in 1995! She then went on to be the first female to earn tenure in her department and the first African American female in the college

Read more about her inspiring story and research in microwave applications related to communications systems and biomedicine: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10271513

Published in: IEEE Journal of Microwaves ( Volume: 3, Issue: 4, October 2023)

ATP-BIO AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT

2023 David Sutherland Award goes to Dr. Joseph Sushil Rao

Dr. Joseph Sushil Rao is the inaugural recipient of the David Sutherland Distinguished Award in Pancreas Transplantation, instituted by the International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association (IPITA).

This biennial award is given to a single clinical/research fellow based upon demonstrated clinical/research merit and future potential for both scholarly academic/clinical excellence and a commitment to the training of clinicians/scientists in the field of pancreas transplantation.

The award honors the legacy of Dr. David Sutherland, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota, whose long and illustrious career includes many firsts in the field of pancreas and islet transplantation. Dr. Sutherland directed the pancreas transplant program at the University of Minnesota for decades, a prestigious program in the country and the world that has performed over 2400 pancreas and nearly 1000 islet transplants.

Joseph Sushil Rao, MD

Surgical Lead
Pancreatic Islet Cryopreservation, Exogenic Organ Development & Transplant Immunology
Division of Transplantation & Schulze Diabetes Institute, Department of Surgery
University of Minnesota

Assessment of stored red blood cells through lab-on-a-chip technologies for precision transfusion medicine

Transfusion of red blood cells (RBCs) is one of the most valuable and widespread treatments in modern medicine

Lifesaving RBC transfusions are facilitated by the cold storage of RBC units in blood banks worldwide. Currently, RBC storage and subsequent transfusion practices are performed using simplistic workflows. More specifically, most blood banks follow the “first-in-first-out” principle to avoid wastage, whereas most healthcare providers prefer the “last-in-first-out” approach simply favoring chronologically younger RBCs. Neither approach addresses recent advances through -omics showing that stored RBC quality is highly variable depending on donor-, time-, and processing-specific factors. Thus, it is time to rethink our workflows in transfusion medicine taking advantage of novel technologies to perform RBC quality assessment. We imagine a future where lab-on-a-chip technologies utilize novel predictive markers of RBC quality identified by -omics and machine learning to usher in a new era of safer and precise transfusion medicine. Read full article here.

Overview of LOC Technologies
LOC platforms for RBC quality assessment. Figure (A) shows different aspects, components, and materials of LOC platforms from design and fabrication to operation (flow) and sensing. Such platforms enable detection of various biomarkers ranging from cells and proteins to ions. Figure (B) shows a schematic representation of one of the most commonly used RBC deformability measurements using LOC platforms. Such platforms use microfluidic constrictions to quantify the degree of deformability.

TRANSPLANTATION BREAKTHROUGH

Researchers perform first successful transplant of functional cryopreserved rat kidney

In a groundbreaking new study, engineers and medical researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have proven the life-saving potential of long-term organ preservation at ultra-low temperatures by successfully transplanting a rewarmed kidney in a rat and restoring full kidney function.

UMN News
UMN Medical School News
UMN College of Science & Engineering News

Read more in the Science article, the STAT article, and the Nature Communications article.

Photo Credit: CAROLINE YANG FOR STAT

Stopping the biological clock

Advances in using extreme cold to slow biological processes could touch everything from donated organs to fresh produce. The University of Minnesota team has developed one approach, dubbed "nanowarming," which thaws an organ evenly to avoid damage from ice.

University of Minnesota achieves milestone in freezing organs before transplant

The success in freezing and thawing kidneys transplanted in rats could one day improve human organ transplants. 

Scientists at the University of Minnesota have successfully transplanted rat kidneys that were thawed after up to 100 days in ultracold storage — a milestone that could one day revolutionize how and when human organs are transplanted.

University of Minnesota mechanical engineering postdoctoral researcher Zonghu Han demonstrated how rat kidneys can be cryogenically stored for up to 100 days before they are warmed and transplanted. (Image: Rebecca Slater)

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By Jeremy Olson,
Star Tribune (June 22, 2023)

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FROZEN IN TIME

Scientists are learning how to cryopreserve living tissues, organs, and even whole organisms, then bring them back to life

The rat kidney on the operating table in front of Joseph Sushil Rao looked like it had been through hell. Which it had—a very cold one.

Normally a deep pink, this thumbnail-size organ was blanched a corpselike gray. In the past 6 hours, it had been plucked from the abdomen of a white lab rat, pumped full of a black fluid, stuck in a freezer cooled to –150°C, and zapped by a powerful magnet.

Now, in a cramped, windowless room on the 11th floor of the University of Minnesota’s (UMN’s) Malcolm Moos Health Sciences Tower, Rao lifted the kidney from a small plastic box and gently laid it inside the open abdomen of another white rat. Peering through a microscope, the transplant surgeon–in–training deftly spliced the kidney’s artery and vein into the rat’s abdominal blood vessels using a thread half the thickness of a human hair.

The wood frog (Rana sylvatica) can survive for months in a partially frozen state in places like the Canadian Arctic. Strategies used by the frog to endure such extremes are inspiring efforts to better preserve human tissue and organs. (Image: J.M. Storey/Carleton University)

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Warren Cornwall, Science (June 21, 2023)

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Scientists successfully unfroze rat organs and transplanted them

a ‘historic’ step that could someday transform transplant medicine

It’s the first time scientists have shown it’s possible to successfully and repeatedly transplant a life-sustaining mammalian organ after it has been rewarmed from this icy metabolic arrest. Outside experts unequivocally called the results a seminal milestone for the field of organ preservation.

“It’s historic,” said Mehmet Toner, a biomedical engineer at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Harvard Medical School professor working in organ cryopreservation. “This is the beginning of a very exciting journey.”

A rat kidney being prepared for transplantation as part of research by the University of Minnesota on a new technique for long-term organ cryopreservation. (Image: Caroline Yang for STAT)

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Marion Renault, June 21, 2023

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2023 Fung Institute MEng Capstone Innovation Award

The 2023 Fung Institute MEng Capstone Innovation Award is awarded to the MEng capstone team who has most effectively demonstrated: a) the relevance of the problem they are trying to solve; b) the originality of their proposed solution; c) and the potential of their project’s impact.

Winning Team: 3D Cryoprinting

Students: Joseph Roux de Bézieux, Fiona Le Gaonac’h, Gakpe Mckenzie, Ania Boukhezna
Advisor: Boris Rubinsky

Liver partial freezing

Partial freezing of rat livers extends preservation time by 5-fold

The need for transplantation is growing steadily while the supply of donor organs is nowhere near demand. Extending organ preservation has increasingly been identified as a national research priority that would significantly impact organ allocation, handling, and transplantation in several important ways. Read the full article here

The partial freezing protocols
a Schematic overview of the partial freezing protocol showing the target perfusion temperature (top blue line) and pressures (bottom blue line) during the subsequent steps in the protocol. Livers were stored at either −10 or −15 °C. The numbers in circles match the explanation of the protocol in the introduction and Methods section. The perfusion solutions and the rate of change between the solutions are shown in blue boxes. SPS = subnomothermic preconditioning solution, HPS = hypothermic preloading solution, TS = thawing solution. See Supplementary Table S1 for the exact composition of the solutions. b Photos of the livers during the consecutive steps of the protocol. From left to right; SNMP preloading, HMP preloading, partial freezing, CPA unloading, functional recovery during SNMP, and start of simulated transplantation.

Bethanie Stadler: Nanoheaters for Electronics and Organ Donation

Professor Bethanie Stadler invented microscopic nanowires that can be rapidly heated for use in nanoelectronics and potentially help make cryogenically-preserved organs available for donation.

What do nanoelectronics and organ preservation have in common? Both technologies can be advanced by super small nanoheaters. Thanks to research on nanoelectronics by Beth Stadler and Rhonda Franklin, professors of electrical and computer engineering, and research on cryoengineering by John Bischof, director of the University’s Institute for Mechanical Engineering in Medicine, we may one day see both nanoelectronics and organ preservation become reality.

Stadler has invented magnetic nanowires that generate heat very quickly in an alternating magnetic field. One application of these nano-scopic particles will hopefully be realized due to an NSF Engineering Research Center (ATP-Bio) that is led by John Bischof. The center is investigating ways to quickly and uniformly thaw cryogenically preserved organs so that the organs won’t be damaged during warming. By flooding the organs with a solution filled with magnetic nanoparticles before they are frozen, technicians could use alternating magnetic fields to safely heat the nanoparticles, and therefore the organs. “This could really be society-changing,” says Stadler, whose nanowires are one of many magnetic nanoparticles under study.

Stadler is working on several projects, including integrating nanowires into high-frequency circuits with Franklin as well as using magnetoelectric oxides to protect lasers from their own reflected power by allowing for one-way transmission of light. “I would love to see things we do in the lab go somewhere and actually impact products,” says Stadler. That’s why she regularly works with Tech Comm to see if her work should be patented and help get it into the hands of companies or investors who can bring it to market.

“Tech Comm staff have deep technical knowledge as well as a sophisticated understanding of what businesses need. This combination makes all the difference.” She credits Tech Comm with keeping up with her most advanced technical work and communicating it clearly to companies who might be interested in licensing it. They’ve helped her overcome commercialization setbacks and successfully license multiple inventions with Boston Scientific.

By leaning on Tech Comm for help with the business side of things, Stadler has more time to focus on what she loves: teaching and innovating. “I love working with students,” she says. “I don’t mind teaching the same classes every year —even Circuits 101—because to me it’s like doing Sudoku puzzles, which I quite enjoy, and happily so do most engineering students.”

Visit University Inventors to learn more about working with the Tech Comm office and find commercialization resources to help you increase your research impact.

U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith Announce $26M NSF ERC Grant to UMN

“This week, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) announced that the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded the University of Minnesota Institute for Engineering in Medicine and three academic collaborators $25,999,491 to create an Engineering Research Center (ERC).

The goal of the ERC, called the Advanced Technologies for Preservation of Biological Systems (ATP-Bio), is to develop and deploy technology to “stop biological time” through temperature control. This will improve transplantation and other biological therapies by preserving organs, tissues and cells. It will also help drive down the cost of drug discovery and much more.

In addition, the center will provide educational programs to middle schoolers and high schoolers, fund research internships in ATP-Bio labs for undergraduate students, and work to increase diversity in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.

“When we invest in education and innovation for our state, we invest in a brighter future for Minnesota and our country,” Klobuchar said. “This National Science Foundation funding will allow the University of Minnesota to expand biology programs that engage middle and high school students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.”

“Minnesota’s universities and colleges are innovation hubs full of possibility,” said Sen. Smith. “I’m delighted to see the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Engineering in Medicine receive this award. I look forward to following their impressive bioengineering work, which will create opportunity for our country. And I’m glad that the center will offer education opportunities to middle and high school students, as well as internships to undergraduates. It’s important that we keep creating more pathways to careers in STEM.”

The University of Minnesota will partner with Massachusetts General Hospital, University of California, Berkeley; and the University of California, Riverside on the ATP Bio center. The award is set for an initial five-year period and is renewable in 2025 for another five years.”

Learn more about the grant here.