Principles of cryopreservation

Biospecimens are important reagents that are used to diagnose disease, monitor response to treatment and help in the development and testing of new therapies to treat human disease. In order to provide these critical functions, biospecimens need to maintain their requisite biological properties between the time that they are collected and when they are used. It is common for biospecimens to be frozen to preserve those critical biological properties. The purpose of this chapter is to describe our scientific understanding behind the freezing, storage and thawing processes that take place during cryopreservation and the manner by which these processes can preserve or damage the sample. Practical hints for applying scientific principles to daily biobanking practice are also included.