Advanced Rewarming Technologies for Cryopreservation

Cryopreservation is a strategy for long-term preservation of biological samples by storing them at low temperatures while maintaining viability and functionality over an extended period. However, widespread adoption of cryopreservation remains limited by significant challenges, particularly those associated with injuries incurred during the rewarming of large or complex biological samples. Effective rewarming requires rapid and uniform heating to prevent damage from ice recrystallization and thermal stress. However, the current gold standard warming method, water bath warming, relies on convective heat transfer through the sample surface, which is insufficient to meet these critical requirements. Consequently, extensive research has explored alternative heating modalities to overcome these limitations. This chapter reviews recent advancements in rewarming technologies, including nanowarming, Joule heating, laser heating, and dielectric heating, single-mode electromagnetic resonance (SMER) heating and capacitive heating, highlighting their unique advantages, mechanisms, and application scenarios.