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Robot Measures Cryoprotectant Thresholds A team from Oregon State University has assembled a robot that measures the vitrification threshold of hundreds of cryoprotectant mixtures over a week. On July 22, an article was published about the setup, which consists of three 384-well plates. It determines the minimum concentration for each cryoprotectant mixture at which the solution transforms into glass, rather than ice, when cooled. When freezing, water forms ice crystals that damage cells. Cryoprotectors prevent water molecules from gathering into crystals, making the solution glass-like. For each mixture, the concentration that suppresses ice while not making the solution too toxic for cells must be found. Typically, this search is done manually, but the authors have transferred this cycle to the three 384-well plates. The robot prepares mixtures, a camera distinguishes transparent wells with glass from those with ice, and the program selects the next concentration using a binary search. One run yields 1,152 measurements, and after five steps, the threshold is found with an accuracy of 1% mass concentration. Over a week, the setup collected around 26,000 measurements and approximately 400 vitrification threshold values. The authors estimate its performance to be about 50 times higher than that of test tube experiments. The threshold depends not only on the solution's composition but also on the experimental conditions. 🔗 Read original →