Development of coatings that induce ice nucleation

Cryopreservation is a method for the long term stabilisation of biological materials for use in medicine and science. However during cooling ice nucleation is an unpredictable process and samples are observed to nucleate over a wide range of temperature. It is known that when cryopreserving cells, induced ice nucleation is highly desirable to retain functionality of cells on thawing. This project will examine the feasibility of developing an ice nucleating coating for the inside of vessels used for cryopreservation which will overcome the problems caused by random ice nucleation and improve cell recovery on thawing. This technolgy also has potential application in the freeze drying of pharmaceuticals and in food freezing.