History of Cryopreservation

The story of the development of cell cryopreservation is the story of the triumph of scientists over ice crystals. Interestingly, the efforts to successfully freeze and thaw cells had started and ended with human gametes. Sperm was a cell type that was relatively simple to attain and isolate and more importantly it was easy to assess its post thaw viability and function and therefore was one of the first to be frozen. The freezing of oocytes and embryos proved to be considerably more difficult yet was clinically essential and thus drove tremendous research effort until the development of open tube vitrification. The amalgamation of cryopreservation of gametes and embryos had changed the practice of IVF by making it safer and more accessible. There are still many challenges that result from the current technology of cryopreservation that may be solved in the future by automated vitrification and thawing devices as well as with gamete desiccation.