Cryoprotectants set to change Cell-Freezing Market

CryoLogyx, a University of Warwick spin-out, has been awarded £300k from Innovate UK to develop cryopreservation agents with applications in the diagnostic, medicines discovery and cell-based therapy markets.  It will build on research emerging from Professor Matthew Gibson’s laboratories, based in both the Department of Chemistry and Warwick Medical School at the University, which has been studying how organisms survive in the Earths coldest environments. The data has been used to develop macromolecular cryoprotectants which allow more cells to survive the freezing process and to replace the organic solvents used in traditional cell-freezing methods.

The polymer cryoprotectants can give up to 4 times increase in the number of recovered cells and have been shown to work in a range of cell types. CryoLogyx will use this platform technology to transform emerging, advanced, cell based therapies, simplify the medicines development process and aid supply chains.

Matthew Gibson, Professor at the University of Warwick and Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the company said: “This is a really exciting time to enter the cryopreservation market. New cell-based therapies are transforming oncology and recent news around the challenges of distributing COVID-19 vaccines highlights how protecting biologics at low temperature is essential in modern medicine. For the past decade we have studied how we can use polymers as innovative cryoprotectants and CryoLogyx will take these forward to develop new products.”

Dr Thomas Congdon, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer added: “We are delighted to have been awarded Innovate UK funding to commercialise our research and begin delivering real value and innovation to the cell research and therapy sector. Effective commercial cryopreservation solutions are imperative for the discovery and deployment of new medicines. We are excited about growing CryoLogyx and engaging with the users of our technology.”