Cryogenic Vitrification Packaging Kit with Sealing Sheath
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cryopreservation methods, such as slow cooling and vitrification, face risks of ice crystal formation and contamination due to open-ended micro-straws used in cryogenic vitrification, which can compromise the viability of embryonic cells and lead to cross-contamination with micro-organisms.
Innovation Solution
A packaging kit comprising a thin tube with a sheathing, a support, and a pusher member, where the support is designed to be introduced into the sheathing with a gap, allowing for efficient and sanitary sealing to prevent contamination, using Surlyn ionomer resin for the tube and disposable pusher member to minimize risks, and incorporating a ballast weight for optimized vitrification.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If micro-straws are used for cryogenic vitrification, then vitrification efficiency is improved, but contamination risk increases due to open ends contacting liquid nitrogen and multiple substances
Solution Approach 1:
The micro-straw containing the biological substance is nested inside a protective sheathing tube. The sheathing acts as an outer container that encloses the micro-straw, preventing direct contact between the open ends of the micro-straw and the liquid nitrogen environment, thereby eliminating contamination risk while maintaining vitrification efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The sheathing serves as an intermediary barrier between the biological substance in the micro-straw and the external liquid nitrogen environment. This intermediate structure allows the micro-straw to remain open-ended for efficient vitrification while the sheathing prevents harmful contaminants from reaching the substance.
2Reliability
If the support is introduced into the thin tube without gaps, then sealing efficiency is improved, but operational difficulty increases due to tight fit requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The sheathing is designed with localized thickened end portions at both ends, creating specific sealing zones with enhanced thickness. These localized thickened portions provide effective sealing surfaces when the support contacts them, ensuring reliable sealing without requiring a tight fit along the entire length of the thin tube, thus facilitating easier operation.
3Loss of substance
If the pusher member is reusable, then cost is reduced, but contamination risk increases due to repeated contact with multiple substances
Solution Approach 1:
The pusher member is designed as a disposable component that is discarded after a single use. Although this increases material consumption compared to reusable designs, it completely eliminates contamination risk by ensuring the pusher member contacts each biological substance only once and never returns to contact other substances, making it the more reliable choice for maintaining purity.
4Device complexity
If slow cooling method is used, then equipment complexity is reduced, but cell viability decreases due to ice crystal formation
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the cooling parameter from slow cooling to rapid cooling (vitrification). By introducing a pusher member that enables quick immersion into liquid nitrogen, the cooling rate parameter is dramatically increased, preventing ice crystal formation and significantly improving cell viability, though this requires more specialized equipment.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The kit ensures high sanitary safety and efficient vitrification by preventing contamination and ice crystal formation, achieving rapid and homogeneous cooling of biological substances, thereby minimizing the risk of cell destruction and ensuring high viability.
Implementation Method 1
each of said gaps has a length adapted to enable production of a weld in said thin tube in each end portion of said thin tube situated between one end of said support and the adjacent end of said thin tube
Implementation Method 2
said second portion being adapted to be introduced into said thin tube to move said support forward until the abutment of the first portion comes up against the thin tube
Implementation Method 3
Another method, known as vitrification, consists in cooling the substance to be preserved quasi-instantaneously, that substance having been prepared with a higher content of cryoprotectors
Implementation Method 4
cooling the substance to be preserved quasi-instantaneously
Implementation Method 5
into which the substance to be vitrified is drawn by capillary action
Data Source
AI summary
The invention concerns an assembly for packaging a volume of substance to be preserved by cryogenic vitrification characterized in that it comprises a sheathing (2) including a thin tube (6) having a predetermined internal diameter (Di) and a predetermined length (L); a support (3) comprising a zone for receiving said predetermined volume, said support (3) capable of being introduced inside said thin tube (6); and a plunger (4) for pushing forward said support (3), said support (3) then taking up a predetermined position in said thin tube (6) with an interval between each end (21, 22) of said support (2) and the neighboring end (8, 9) of said thin tube (6).