“They found that the thawed organoids closely resembled their unfrozen counterparts’ appearance, growth, and function, even after being frozen in MEDY for 18 months.”
A Fudan University team froze lab-grown brain organoids for 18 months in a mix of methylcellulose, ethylene glycol, DMSO and Y27632, and they thawed out working. Real tissue from a 9-month-old with epilepsy survived in 3 mm cubes for two weeks after thawing. The near-term payoff is better lab samples for neurology research. Going from a 3 mm cube to cryopreserved astronauts skips every hard part.