Assess whether engineered ice-binding proteins can reduce freeze-related damage and support post-thaw recovery, viability, and formulation performance in cell therapy and biologics workflows.
Cryopreservation is central to the storage and distribution of advanced therapy medicinal products, including engineered immune cells, stem-cell-derived materials, and other cold-chain-sensitive biologics. However, freezing and thawing can introduce severe cellular and formulation stress.
Standard protocols often depend heavily on DMSO and related cryoprotective strategies to suppress lethal ice formation. While effective, higher cryoprotectant loading can also contribute to toxicity, osmotic stress, workflow complexity, and added pressure on post-thaw handling.
Temperature fluctuations during storage, transport, or thaw can also trigger ice recrystallisation, increasing the risk of mechanical damage, membrane disruption, and reduced post-thaw recovery of the intended therapeutic dose.
IBP Ventures evaluates ice-binding proteins that act directly at the ice-water interface, providing a different mechanism for managing freeze damage during the cryopreservation cycle.
In cell therapy manufacturing, post-thaw losses are not just a storage issue. Reduced viability or recovery can affect dose consistency, downstream handling, and the practical performance of a valuable therapeutic product.
Improving cryopreservation is therefore not only about long-term storage. It is about preserving intended potency, supporting functional recovery, and reducing avoidable stress on clinical or manufacturing teams handling sensitive material after thaw.
IBP Ventures offers defined feasibility pilots to assess whether ice-binding proteins can integrate into and improve specific cell therapy or biologics cryopreservation workflows.
In high-value cell therapy workflows, even modest improvements in post-thaw recovery, viability, or robustness may translate into better batch consistency, less process waste, and lower pressure on tightly controlled downstream handling.
For therapy developers and manufacturing teams, the key question is not whether cryopreservation is already functional, but whether it could perform more reliably in a way that is technically meaningful and commercially justified.
The objective of a feasibility pilot is to determine whether the ice-binding protein approach merits further formulation work, scale-up attention, or integration into a more formal development pathway.
While this page focuses on cell therapy and biologics, the same underlying challenge of freeze damage, recrystallisation, and post-thaw recovery also appears across other high-value biological systems.
Sensitive therapeutic cells and formulations where freeze–thaw recovery, viability, and handling robustness are commercially important.
Embryo and oocyte cryopreservation where post-thaw survival and warming-stage damage are critical constraints.
Sample storage workflows where reduced preservation loss and improved long-term consistency may be valuable.
Are you encountering post-thaw recovery loss, cold-chain instability, or formulation constraints in your cell therapy workflow?
We offer tightly scoped feasibility pilots to evaluate whether ice-binding proteins can improve performance and workflow fit in your specific cryopreservation process.