The stability and performance of reagents and biomolecules are mainly dependent on their storage and handling. Current cold storage practices for these materials can induce heterogeneity, are energy inefficient, and can result in significant material waste. Although lyophilization can mitigate some of the issues associated with cold-storage, it requires extensive material-specific development, suffers from yield loss, and is rarely available to method developers. We propose capillary-mediated vitrification (CMV) method, which leverages the naturally occurring process of capillary evaporation to rapidly remove moisture from an aqueous matrix without freezing or boiling, enabling transition of the materials into a stable glassy state. Unlike traditional lyophilization processes, CMV process does not require optimization and a freezing step, and the process can be completed in less than 1 h. We anticipate the CMV process can store materials on ambient temperature in a pre-diluted, single use format to improve efficiency, sustainability, and to reduce waste.
Learning Objectives:
Uponcompletion, participant will be able to know the novel method that can preservecritical regents and biomolecules at room temperature.
Uponcompletion, participant will be able to know alternatives to lyophilization technology.
Uponcompletion, participant will be able to know how to improve moleculesthermostability.