Abstract
Fungi are remarkable organisms with potential across numerous scientific fields, contributing to our understanding of human genetics, biocontrol, alternative fuels, drug discovery, bioremediation, and pathogenicity. To ensure that these important organisms are available for future research applications, it is essential that they are properly preserved to safeguard against genetic alterations and loss of viability; however, there is no clear consensus regarding preservation. A multitude of factors (e.g., species, strain, growth phase, rate, medium, density, storage temperature, duration) can affect the effective cryopreservation of fungal species. Therefore, the composition of the medium used to suspend the organism is extremely important. The presence of suitable cryoprotective additives (CPAs) is believed to increase the survival rate considerably. CPAs range from sterile water to different percentages of glycerol along with varied concentrations of DMSO. Better preservation processes that can improve the survival rate while maintaining the physiological and genomic characteristics of fungi is critical. This study will focus on the proteomic changes that happen before and after preservation with CPA and will elucidate the key mechanisms involved. Our results underscore the need for having a standardized CPA for properly preserving fungal strains.
Download the presentation to learn how standardized cryoprotective additives can improve fungal preservation
DownloadPresenter
Thiruganesh Ramasamy, PhD
Senior Scientist, Cryobiology R&D, ATCC
Thiruganesh specializes in drug delivery, drug product development, and formulation of innovative nanoparticles. Thiruganesh has extensive experience in early stage and late formulation sciences and physicochemical analysis and preclinical activities. He holds a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences and has over 12 years of experience in R&D activities and has published over 50 peer-reviewed publications and 4 patents with over 4000 citations. Prior to ATCC, Dr. Ramasamy worked as a Formulation Scientist at MantraBio, CA and prior to that pursued Post-Doctoral fellowship at University of Pittsburg (UPMC) from 2016-2020. As part of the BioNexus Cryobiology team (ATCC), Thiruganesh leads the efforts behind developing strategies to innovate novel formulations and create platform towards the cryopreservation, dry state preservation and lyophilization of microorganisms and extracellular vesicles.
