Objective

There is a growing unmet need for efficient short term storage and transport methods to preserve biologics for cell therapy and research applications. Traditional methods such as cryopreservation often lead to a reduction in the quality of the biologic and can compromise the safety and efficacy of cell-based therapies. In addition, recovery from cryopreservation can often introduce variability into cell-based research products, reducing their performance and saleability. We use alginate hydrogels to encapsulate biological products, protecting them from biochemical and physical damage during storage and shipment. This enables holding of cells and tissues at room temperature for up to two weeks, allowing increased time windows for international shipping and increased flexibility throughout distribution networks. Our system uses no cytotoxic compounds nor animal derived supplements and is GMP compliant. The process is quick, easy to implement and scalable, and we present multiple examples of its effective use over a wide range of cell types.