Phil’s work on ice recrystallization inhibitor (IRI) molecules was just published to Nature Scientific Reports!
The largest cause for blood cell damage in cryogenic is not the actual freezing process, but rather the thawing process. Here large ice crystal grains form and damage the cell. Using computational chemistry, Phil and post-doc Michael Fernandez were able to screen set of experimental molecules and then develop a quantitative-structure activity relationship (QSAR) model to help predict new active molecules.
This work was done in collaboration with the Prof. Robert Ben’s group with most of the experimental work done by Ph.D student Jennie Briard. They are pioneers of designing and developing ice recrystallization inhibitor molecules. See more of their work here: The Ben Lab
You can download a copy of the paper here:
Scientific Reports | 6:26403 | DOI: 10.1038/srep26403