Jedediah Lewis
Organ Preservation Alliance, USA
Title: The promise of organ banking and large-scale support for cryopreservation advances
Biography
Biography: Jedediah Lewis
Abstract
A growing research effort aims to achieve the cryopreservation of viable large tissues and organs for both transplantation and research, with the potential to save or improve the lives of millions of patients worldwide. Recent years have seen multiple targeted federal grant pipelines for complex tissue cryobanking that have funded dozens of labs across the U.S., as well as roundtables at the White House and on Capitol Hill, an NSF-funded technology road mapping process, and other meetings with U.S. science agencies and stakeholder organizations to generate support for organ and tissue banking progress. At two global Organ Banking Summits, held at sites including Stanford School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School, leading cryopreservation labs have mapped out the remaining “sub-challenges” to cryo bank whole organs and large tissues in a viable state. The American Society of Transplantation recently launched a community of practice that aims to support advances toward the cryopreservation of whole organs, limbs, and an array of other biological systems. These developments offer numerous opportunities for the biobanking community, as they can enable both new applications of bio banked tissue, new cold chain solutions for cells and tissues, and new support for biobanking advances.