Addressing Reproducibility in Cryopreservation, and Considerations Necessary for Commercialization and Community...

For the past six decades a repeated cycle of developing new cryopreservation protocols or simply reinventing them to counteract a lack of reproducibility has led to hundreds of published studies that have offered little to the establishment of a genetic resources community for aquatic species. This has hampered repository development and inhibited industrial application. Most protocols were developed without standardized approaches, leading to irreproducible studies and questionable or meaningless comparisons. Thus cryopreservation of germplasm in aquatic species would greatly benefit from strategies to facilitate reproducibility. Our objectives were to: (1) identify major sources of irreproducibility across research, small-scale, repository, and commercial-scale development levels, (2) provide recommendations to address reproducibility challenges, and (3) offer suggestions on how researchers can directly influence commercial development and application of cryopreservation research. Sources of irreproducibility include lack of standardized procedural approaches, lack of standardized terminology, and lack of reporting guidelines. To address these challenges, we propose implementation of standard operating procedures (SOP), support of stock centers and internet content for development of training programs, and strengthening of the role of scientific journals and reviewers in reducing the frequency of irreproducible outcomes. Reproducibility is the foundation for quality management programs and product reliability, and therefore standardization is necessary to assure efficient transition to commercial-scale application and repository development. Progress can only be possible through community-based approaches focused on coalescence and consensus of disparate groups involved in aquatic species cryopreservation and management of genetic resources.