Advances in Cryopreservation by Vitrification

The Inventors Association of Connecticut (IACT) will hold its monthly meeting on Wednesday,  September 30th  (not Tuesday September 29th) at 7PM in room 107 C in the DiMenna-Nyselius Library at Fairfield University.. This is a free public meeting in which all inventors, tinkerers and “would-be” inventors are welcome.

The meeting will feature Milton Chin, medical equipment consultant and contractor who will discuss his four inventions in the design of the container that contains frozen embryos for in vitro fertilization.

Milton is a successful entrepreneur having earned over $700k in royalty fees for his inventions and ideas.  This success draws from his abilities to develop unique technologies that addresses a market need.  Milton uses his business instincts and his technical credibility to develop valuable IP a scientist or a businessman alone cannot create.

Abstract

The inability to have progeny, infertility, afflicts 15% of all couples often leaving profound psychological scars behind. In most cases, in-vitro fertilization (“IVF”) is the only intervention that can lead to successful pregnancies.  In this process, the fertilization of human gametes is performed extracorporeally, literally in a petri dish.  The zygotes are then cultured for 3-5 days resulting in a cohort of embryos (typically 6-12) that are ready to be placed into the woman's uterus.  Only a fraction of the cohort, (typically 2-3 embryos) are transferred to the woman at any time.  Transfer of the entire cohort leads to unmanageable multiple births - the Octumom experience.   Embryos that are not transferred are cryopreserved for future use.  Cryopreserved embryos are valuable biomaterials that dramatically improve the efficacy of IVF by enabling multiple transfers.

Cryopreservation is the chilling of the embryo to cryogenic temperatures where all biological activity is halted for an extended period of time.  One factor in the success of cryopreservation is reducing or eliminating the deleterious effect of ice crystal formation.  Vitrification is a cryopreservation method that seeks to avoid the formation of cell-damaging ice altogether.  It does so by using cryoprotectants (“CPA”) in conjunction with rapid chilling of the embryo specimen.  CPAs are toxic to embryos, which can be negated by chilling speed.  The faster one can chill, the lower the CPA concentration (hence less toxic) one can use to vitrify.  Successful vitrification can be achieved with a proper combination of chilling speed and CPA concentration.

Liquid nitrogen (“LN2”) is a common chilling agent, given its cost and availability.   LN2, however, is not aseptic.  The potential of infection has led to the development of closed cryocontainers, where the biological specimen is placed in a cryocontainer and sealed before chilling in LN2.  But, the very surfaces that protect the biological specimen also impede heat transfer, thereby reducing chilling speeds.   Development of an effective closed cryocontainer for vitrification has proven to be a difficult challenge due to this conflict of purpose.   The use of LN2 as the chilling agent also gives rise to an insulating gas layer that impedes heat transfer.  This “Leidenfrost effect” is at odds with the need for rapid chilling in vitrification.


My presentation will describe four inventions that pertain to a new vitrification cryocontainer design.  Using shape memory alloys, this new cryocontainer will have these new features:

1. A shape-shifting feature in which the relevant heat transfer zone of the cryocontainer can be thermally morphed between a shape conducive to biological specimen handling and a shape conducive to rapid heat transfer.
2. A sealing mechanism that automatically seals the cryocontainer upon chilling and unseals upon warming.
3. A temperature alert device that warns the user of impending devitrification, a process that leads to damaging ice crystal formation.

In addition, I will describe a fourth invention, a device that eliminates the Leidenfrost effect during the chilling of vitrification cryocontainers with LN2.

All four inventions have been licensed to a major medical device company.


About Milton Chin
Milton Chin is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with BS and ME degrees in Chemical Engineering.  He also holds an MBA from the University of Missouri.  In addition to the patent pending concepts described above, he has been awarded two US patents.  Milton's professional career spans engineering, sales and marketing.  He has held several managerial roles in the marketing of medical devices including endoscopy, patient monitoring, and women's healthcare.

Milton is a successful entrepreneur having earned over $700k in royalty fees for his inventions and ideas.  This success draws from his abilities to develop unique technologies that addresses a market need.  Milton uses his business instincts and his technical credibility to develop valuable IP a scientist or a businessman alone cannot create.

Contact Information:
Milton Chin
Vitriscience LLC
President
15 Oxen Hill Road
Trumbull, CT 06611
203-981-3445
miltonchin@earthlink.net
vitrisci@earthlink.net

---

By request of the presenter, the PPTs were not made available.

Pictures from the presentation