Freezing organoids sounds simple...
until you try to get them back alive
Cryopreservation sits at the heart of organoid research, enabling long-term storage, biobanking, and reproducible experimental pipelines. Yet, traditional freezing methods, often relying on 10% DMSO plus high concentrations of serum, pose serious challenges: variable recovery rates, altered gene expression, and a higher risk of microbial contamination (Lu YC, et al., 2018).
1. Why can serum be a problem?
Serum has historically been added to cryopreservation media to mitigate freezing stress, but its undefined composition introduces unwanted biological variability. Serum proteins can adhere to the extracellular matrix of organoids, sometimes triggering osmotic stress or expansion during thawing, affecting post-thaw morphology and cell survival. Moreover, serum-derived additives have been linked to contamination events and reduced reproducibility across organoid labs (Lu YC, et al., 2018).
Recent research on intestinal and hepatic organoids confirms that serum-free cryopreservation media yield higher post-thaw viability (70–80%) and maintain long-term genetic stability compared to serum-based solutions. These results make a strong case for transitioning toward defined, serum-free formulations (Rogulska O, et al., 2023; PromoCell 2024).
2. The Bambanker™ advantage
Bambanker™ offers a ready-to-use, serum-free cryopreservation medium optimized for both cells and complex 3D structures such as organoids. Because it eliminates serum variability, it improves reproducibility across batches and institutions — key for translational and collaborative organoid projects. It's a simple protocol that requires no programmable freezer and supports cryostorage at either -80 °C or in liquid nitrogen.
2.1. Scientific validation: proven in organoid research
Bambanker’s effectiveness has already been documented in several organoid-focused studies and applications, validating its reliability in maintaining organoid structure, viability, and downstream functionality. A few examples below:
- Human kidney organoids: Proximal and distal tubule structures with >90% viability post-thaw (Mashouf P, et al., 2024).
- iPSC-Derived Dopaminergic Neurospheres: Neurospheres frozen in Bambanker hRM maintained high viability (~80%), preserved dopamine release, and retained full neural electrophysiology after thawing. When transplanted into Parkinson’s disease rat models, these preserved cells successfully differentiated and improved motor function, demonstrating both structural and functional integrity (Hiramatsu S, et al., 2022).
Together, these results underscore that Bambanker™ is not just compatible but proven across multiple organoid and neurosphere systems, offering consistent post-thaw quality even in clinical-grade studies.
3. Why it matters for reproducibility and scale
Adopting serum-free cryopreservation helps standardize long-term storage and sharing of complex 3D cultures across research sites and companies. Using Bambanker™ ensures a defined medium composition, higher recovery rates, and compliance with modern reproducibility and regulatory standards.
Cryopreservation is evolving fast and organoids are at the center of it.
How do you preserve your organoids or 3D cultures?