UF Health Scientists Develop Novel Method of Cryopreserving Lung Tissue for COVID-19 Research
Scientists can grow individual cell lines in a dish and study how the coronavirus infects them. And that’s useful as far as it goes.
In a sense, however, it’s like studying how a car works by looking at just the carburetor.
To gain the most insight, researchers want to study human lung tissue in its full, multidimensional glory, with all cell types represented.
A team of University of Florida Health researchers have developed a method to cryopreserve lung tissue at minus-184 degrees Fahrenheit that give scientists an important new tool to study how the coronavirus infects individuals.
The method, using commercially available media normally used to freeze cell lines, provides scientists a more complete picture of how the coronavirus and COVID-19 impact lung tissue.
One ingredient of the media is a protein found in Antarctic fish that inhibits the formation of ice crystals.
“When we thaw these lung tissue cells, they retain many of the original properties from before they were frozen,” said Matthew Schaller, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the UF College of Medicine’s division of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. “The cells are still alive and metabolically active, so they can eat and secrete and, importantly, be infected by virus.”
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