I-Corps: Cryogenic Sample Storage Platform for Environmental and Wildlife Conservation

I-Corps：用于环境和野生动物保护的低温样品存储平台

• 批准号: 2223529
• 负责人: Claudia Rawn
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Tennessee Knoxville
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-05-01 至 2023-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2223529&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Cryogenic; Sample; Storage; Platform

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of technology using liquid nitrogen cryopreservation to improve capabilities in biobanking and fertility preservation of rare and endangered species in the face of climate change, habitat destruction, pollution, inbreeding, and other dangers. Currently, most of the cryopreservation work is performed in the lab, which may not be a feasible solution for many valuable species that exist only in the wild and cannot be easily transported. Consequently, this challenge has impeded the progress of establishing a universal, all-comprehensive biorepository that includes all species on the planet Earth. Further, cryo-storage of biomaterials, including germplasm, tissue, blood and DNA from wildlife species, offers broad opportunities from helping to understand the fundamental biology of unstudied species to enhanced conservation breeding, genomics and veterinary medicine. As the cryopreservation market continues to grow in the life sciences and biotechnology industries in the future, advances are needed for cryogenically preserving and storing biologically important specimens.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a cryogenic sample storage platform that provides a convenient and portable method to cryogenically preserve biomaterials from rare and endangered species in the wild. The proposed technology smartly senses the remaining level of cryogen in a dewar and refills it automatically, thereby providing a reliable, low-effort supply of liquid nitrogen for on-site storage and eliminating the significant financial burden of constantly shipping large, heavy dewars. The proposed platform consists of three distinct, modifiable modules: a portable liquid nitrogen generator, a transferring mechanism, and a “smart” storage dewar. A key feature of the portable liquid nitrogen generation design is the use of thermoelectric Peltier modules for cooling. This design provides a lightweight and portable solution for liquid nitrogen generation compared to bulky fractional distillation equipment. It is expected that this design may be optimized for field work where collected samples need to be cryopreserved immediately before being transferred to a long-term cryogenic storage facility. The technology also may have application at sites with a need for low volume cryopreservation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该 I-Corps 项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发使用液氮冷冻保存的技术，以提高稀有和濒危物种在面临气候变化、栖息地破坏、污染、近亲繁殖和其他危险时的生物库和生育力保存能力。 目前，大部分冷冻保存工作都是在实验室进行，这对于许多仅存在于野外且不易运输的有价值物种来说可能不是一个可行的解决方案。因此，这一挑战阻碍了建立一个涵盖地球上所有物种的通用、全面的生物储存库的进展。此外，生物材料（包括来自野生动物物种的种质、组织、血液和 DNA）的低温储存提供了广泛的机会，从帮助了解未研究物种的基本生物学到加强保护育种、基因组学和兽医学。 随着未来生命科学和生物技术行业低温保存市场的持续增长，低温保存和储存具有重要生物学意义的标本需要取得进展。I-Corps 项目基于低温样品存储平台的开发，该平台提供了一种方便、便携的方法来低温保存野生稀有和濒危物种的生物材料。所提出的技术可以智能地感知杜瓦瓶中冷冻剂的剩余水平并自动重新填充，从而为现场存储提供可靠、省力的液氮供应，并消除不断运输大型、重型杜瓦瓶的重大财务负担。拟议的平台由三个不同的可修改模块组成：便携式液氮发生器、传输机构和“智能”存储杜瓦瓶。便携式液氮发生设计的一个关键特点是使用热电珀耳帖模块进行冷却。与笨重的分馏设备相比，该设计为液氮生成提供了一种轻量级、便携式的解决方案。预计这种设计可以针对现场工作进行优化，其中收集的样品需要在转移到长期低温储存设施之前立即进行冷冻保存。该技术还可以应用于需要低容量冷冻保存的场所。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。