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Who: Milton Chin
What: Advances in Cryopreservation by Vitrification
Where: Room 107C, Fairfield University Library at Fairfield
University
When: Wednesday, September 30th 2009, 7:00PM.
Cost: Free and Open to the public
Advances in Cryopreservation by Vitrification
The Inventors Association of Connecticut (IACT) will hold its monthly
meeting on Wednesday, September 30th (not Tuesday September
29th) at 7PM in room 107 C in the DiMenna-Nyselius Library at Fairfield
University.. This is a free public meeting in which all inventors,
tinkerers and “would-be” inventors are welcome.
The meeting will feature Milton Chin, medical equipment consultant and
contractor who will discuss his four inventions in the design of the
container that contains frozen embryos for in vitro fertilization.
Milton is a successful entrepreneur having earned over $700k in royalty
fees for his inventions and ideas. This success draws from his
abilities to develop unique technologies that addresses a market
need. Milton uses his business instincts and his technical
credibility to develop valuable IP a scientist or a businessman alone
cannot create.
Abstract
The inability to have progeny, infertility, afflicts 15% of all couples
often leaving profound psychological scars behind. In most cases,
in-vitro fertilization (“IVF”) is the only intervention that can lead
to successful pregnancies. In this process, the fertilization
of human gametes is performed extracorporeally, literally in a petri
dish. The zygotes are then cultured for 3-5 days resulting in
a cohort of embryos (typically 6-12) that are ready to be placed into
the woman's uterus. Only a fraction of the cohort, (typically
2-3 embryos) are transferred to the woman at any time.
Transfer of the entire cohort leads to unmanageable multiple births -
the Octumom experience. Embryos that are not
transferred are cryopreserved for future use. Cryopreserved
embryos are valuable biomaterials that dramatically improve the
efficacy of IVF by enabling multiple transfers.
Cryopreservation is the chilling of the embryo to cryogenic
temperatures where all biological activity is halted for an extended
period of time. One factor in the success of cryopreservation
is reducing or eliminating the deleterious effect of ice crystal
formation. Vitrification is a cryopreservation method that
seeks to avoid the formation of cell-damaging ice altogether.
It does so by using cryoprotectants (“CPA”) in conjunction with rapid
chilling of the embryo specimen. CPAs are toxic to embryos,
which can be negated by chilling speed. The faster one can
chill, the lower the CPA concentration (hence less toxic) one can use
to vitrify. Successful vitrification can be achieved with a
proper combination of chilling speed and CPA concentration.
Liquid nitrogen (“LN2”) is a common chilling agent, given its cost and
availability. LN2, however, is not
aseptic. The potential of infection has led to the
development of closed cryocontainers, where the biological specimen is
placed in a cryocontainer and sealed before chilling in LN2.
But, the very surfaces that protect the biological specimen also impede
heat transfer, thereby reducing chilling speeds.
Development of an effective closed cryocontainer for vitrification has
proven to be a difficult challenge due to this conflict of
purpose. The use of LN2 as the chilling agent also
gives rise to an insulating gas layer that impedes heat
transfer. This “Leidenfrost effect” is at odds with the need
for rapid chilling in vitrification.
My presentation will describe four inventions that pertain to a new
vitrification cryocontainer design. Using shape memory
alloys, this new cryocontainer will have these new features:
1. A shape-shifting feature in which the
relevant heat transfer zone of the cryocontainer can be thermally
morphed between a shape conducive to biological specimen handling and a
shape conducive to rapid heat transfer.
2. A sealing mechanism that automatically
seals the cryocontainer upon chilling and unseals upon warming.
3. A temperature alert device that warns
the user of impending devitrification, a process that leads to damaging
ice crystal formation.
In addition, I will describe a fourth invention, a device that
eliminates the Leidenfrost effect during the chilling of vitrification
cryocontainers with LN2.
All four inventions have been licensed to a major medical device
company.
About Milton Chin
Milton Chin is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with BS
and ME degrees in Chemical Engineering. He also holds an MBA
from the University of Missouri. In addition to the patent
pending concepts described above, he has been awarded two US
patents. Milton's professional career spans engineering,
sales and marketing. He has held several managerial roles in
the marketing of medical devices including endoscopy, patient
monitoring, and women's healthcare.
Milton is a successful entrepreneur having earned over $700k in royalty
fees for his inventions and ideas. This success draws from
his abilities to develop unique technologies that addresses a market
need. Milton uses his business instincts and his technical
credibility to develop valuable IP a scientist or a businessman alone
cannot create.
Contact Information:
Milton Chin
Vitriscience LLC
President
15 Oxen Hill Road
Trumbull, CT 06611
203-981-3445
miltonchin@earthlink.net
vitrisci@earthlink.net
By request of the presenter, the PPTs were not made available.
Pictures from the presentation
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