Cryopreservation with a twist - Towards a sterile, serum-free surface-based vitrification of hESCs

This work introduces a modified method and a new combined cultivation and cryopreservation device to facilitate the surface dependent vitrification without contact with (possibly unsterile) liquid nitrogen. The technique allows the culture, cryopreservation, storage and post-thawing cultivation in the same device without detaching cell samples from the cultivation surface. Successful vitrification of bulk quantities of hESCs without direct liquid nitrogen contact is an important step towards automated cryopreservation processes for clinical applications of stem cells and other colony forming cell types.