BioCoR Research Projects
The goal of BioCoR is to advance the science, technology and practice of biospecimen preservation. This requires establishing the fundamentals of biopreservation science. Below are excerpts from our ongoing research projects:
Research Project 1: Freezing-Induced Phase Separation and Spatial Microheterogeneity in Protein Solutions
Published on: Tuesday 22, December 2009BioCoR
Category: Research Project
Freezing of water induces solute rejection, creating regions of high solute concentration. Freezing-induced partitioning of the solution into different thermodynamic phases (an ice phase and a freeze-concentrated liquid phase) induces segregation of the protein, exposing it to different microenvironmental conditions within the same medium.
Research Project 2: Development of 3-D Raman Confocal Microspectroscopy Techniques to Detect Molecular Mechanisms and Sites of Damage in Mammalian Cells during Freeze/Thaw
Published on: Tuesday 22, December 2009BioCoR
Category: Research Project
The main goal of this study is to determine the correlation between the biophysical state of the intracellular medium during cryoprocessing and the thermal/osmotic damage to cells. Therefore, we are utilizing Confocal Raman Microspectroscopy to directly map the intracellular chemcial composition of single mammalian cells (as submicron states) during cryopreservation. Our initi
Research Project 3: Development of a Microfluidic Device for DMSO Removal
Published on: Tuesday 22, December 2009BioCoR
Category: Research Project
The vast majority of umbilical cord blood (UCB) units are cryopreserved using a 10% DMSO solution. Despite its clinical use, DMSO is not approved for systemic administration and the infusion of cryopreserved cells containing DMSO into humans has been associated with various adverse events. Current methods of removing of DMSO are time consuming, labor intensive and result in ce
Service Project 1: Mesenchymal Stem Cell Preservation
Published on: Tuesday 22, December 2009BioCoR
Category: Service Project
Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) are the most diversely used cell type for therapeutic applications. MSCs have been used to treat graft-versus-host disease following bone marrow transplantation, autoimmune diseases (inflammatory bowel disease, and diabetes), and in regenerative medicine applications.
Service Project 2: Preservation and Processing of Bronchial Alveolar Lavage fluid (BALf)
Published on: Tuesday 22, December 2009BioCoR
Category: Service Project
Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid is a useful tool to collect cells and soluble components from the lung for the diagnosis of disease, biomarker discovery and for understanding mechanisms of disease.
In most biorepositories BALF specimens are simply placed in -80oC freezers where they frozen in an uncontrolled manner without any cryoprotectant.
