Anglia Ruskin University and LinkGevity Limited KTP 24_25 R5

A new chemical compound is being developed to stop cells from dying during freezing, designed to be added to existing preservation fluids used in hospitals and biobanks. When biological samples like tissue biopsies are frozen for storage, ice formation and other stresses often kill many of the cells, degrading the sample's quality. This limits how accurately doctors can diagnose diseases from preserved tissue, and often forces patients to undergo repeat, invasive biopsies to get a usable specimen. The project aims to create a "first in class" anti-necrotic molecule—a compound that actively prevents cell death during the freeze-thaw process—to be combined with the company's existing cryopreservation platform. If successful, the technology could improve hospital diagnostics by ensuring that stored tissue samples remain high-quality and representative of the original disease. This would reduce the need for repeat biopsies, speed up accurate diagnosis, and support the broader growth of the cryopreservation sector. The work is applied and commercial: the goal is a market-ready additive for medical and research use, not a fundamental discovery about cell biology.