Technology in Development

Pancreatites These unique biostructures are pancreatic islet aggregates formed in culture from dissociated pancreas during preparation of tissue for research and therapeutic transplantation in the treatment of Type I diabetes. Pancreatites (Fig. A), which may comprise mature and/or immature islets aggregated with exocrine material, are being characterized in young pigs as a preferred source of islets for future xenotransplantation. US Patent pending.

Cryoisolation: Enzyme-free isolation of pancreatic islets.
Insulin-dependent diabetes is one of the major health problems worldwide and there is now a great deal of interest in developing an option for a potential cure by transplantation of islet cells isolated from a donor pancreas. A critical component of this approach is the availability of sufficient high quality islets to reverse diabetes in the patient. Currently, islets can only be obtained by reliance upon an expensive, inconsistent and toxic enzyme-digestion process. The company’s proprietary Cryo-isolation research is focused on the development of a new and novel alternative technique that relies instead on differential freeze destruction of the pancreas to release islets that are selectively cryopreserved in situ (Fig. B).

Vitrification for preservation of tissues
Vitrification is amorphous solidification of a supercooled liquid, which can be achieved by adjusting the solute composition and the cooling rate such that nucleation and growth of ice crystals are essentially prevented. Inhibition of ice crystal formation by vitrification while halting metabolic activity of cells at low temperatures maintains the extracellular matrices, viability and functionality of preserved tissues. The first of a series of patents can be found at: www.patentstorm.us/patents/6194137/fulltext.html

Freeze drying methods
The Company has considerable proprietary knowledge regarding freeze drying of tissues with cell viability at high sub-zero temperatures. Developed with funding from the Advanced Technology Program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
www.patentstorm.us/patents/6194137/fulltext.html

Unisol™
A solution formulation, which accounts for the biophysical requirements of low temperature exposure with minimal biochemical components, for use as a vehicle for additive "cocktails" optimized for preservation of different cell and tissue types under various storage conditions.
www.patentstorm.us/patents/6492103/fulltext.html

CryoPlate™
A preservation strategy for maintaining adherent cells on plastic or extracellular matrix substrates for use in high throughput assay systems for research, drug discovery or diagnostic products. www.patentstorm.us/patents/6596531/fulltext.html