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  • Category: Tech

A research team from Fudan University in China successfully resurrected human brain tissue that had been frozen for 18 months, setting a new record in the field of cryogenic freezing. The results have been officially published in the Cell sub-journal.

According to reports, the research was conducted by a team led by Dr. Shao Zhicheng of Fudan University. Using human embryonic stem cells, researchers spent three weeks growing brain organoids, small clusters of self-organizing brain cells that can develop into various types of brain cells. The researchers then soaked the organoids in different compounds, froze them for at least 48 hours and then thawed them to monitor their growth and cell death.

In the end, the research team found that a chemical mixture composed of methylcellulose, ethylene glycol, DMSO and Y27632 was the most effective, allowing the tissue to have the least number of dead cells and grow more after thawing, naming it MEDY. Brain organoids thawed in MEDY are very similar in appearance, growth, and function to organoids of the same age that have never been frozen, even after being frozen for 18 months, and can continue to grow for up to more than 150 days.

This new freezing technology could allow brain organoids and samples to be preserved for longer periods of time for biomedical research, and could eventually be applied to whole brains and other tissues.