Development of a Novel Electromagnetic Rewarming Technology for the Cryopreservation of Stem Cells with Large Volume

Applications of stem cells have been playing significant roles in scientific and clinical settings in the last few decades. The foundation of these approaches is successful cryopreservation of stem cells for future use. However, so far we can only cryopreserve stem cell suspension of small volumes in the order of 1 mL mostly due to the lack of an effective rewarming technique. Rapid and uniform rewarming has been approved to be beneficial, and sometimes, indispensable for the survival of cryopreserved stem cells, inhibiting ice recrystallization or devitrification. Unfortunately, the conventional water bath thawing method failed in providing the rapid and uniform rewarming. The conversion of electromagnetic (EM) energy into heat provides a possible solution to this problem. This chapter will focus on (1) analysis of the combined EM and heat transfer phenomenon in the rewarming of a biospecimen, (2) numerical investigation of the rewarming system, (3) practical setup of an EM resonance system, and (4) test of heating performance with large volume of cells.