A melting device is provided that melts a bio-derived frozen product contained in a container including a heat transfer section comprising at least two heating bags, each of which is filled with a heating liquid and is capable of sandwiching the container between the at least two heating bags and a suction mechanism that sucks air from a space between the at least two heating bags and surrounding the container.

A thermal capacitor includes a shell and a PCM. The shell includes a first major surface that is configured to contact a container including media to be frozen. The shell defines a cavity in which the PCM is disposed. The PCM has a transition temperature in a range of −80 degrees Celsius to −50 degrees Celsius and is configured to rapidly freeze media from room temperature to −60 degrees Celsius with the container including the media in contact with the shell in an enclosed space.

A carrier for receiving a vessel includes a body that defines a well. The well is sized and dimensioned to receive a vessel including media. The body is configured to urge the vessel received in the well towards an external wall of the body to enhance thermal energy transfer into or out of the media within the vessel. A box assembly for supporting media during thermal changes includes a box, a vessel, and a carrier is also disclosed.

In a method of ventilating excised lungs, a ventilation gas is supplied to an airway of a lung and a vacuum is formed around the lung. A quality of the vacuum is varied between a lower level and a higher level to cause the lung to breathe, while the pressure of the ventilation gas supplied to the airway is regulated to maintain a positive airway pressure in the airway of the lung. The vacuum may be cyclically varied between the two vacuum levels. The levels may be maintained substantially constant over a period of time, or one or both of the lower and higher levels may be adjusted during ventilation. The lung may be placed in a sealed chamber, and a vacuum is formed in the chamber around the lung.

A system and method facilitates transfers of specimen containers (e.g., vials with caps) between storage cassettes and carrier cassettes. The storage cassettes are designed to be stored in cryogenic refrigerators while the carrier cassettes are designed to be temporarily stored in a portable carrier. Identification information is read from wireless transponders carried by the specimen containers. Visual mappings of the positions of the specimen container in the cassettes is provided. Presence and position of the specimen containers in the cassettes is verified, and alerts of inconsistencies provided along with corrective commands. Inventories of specimen container and even specific specimen holders are provided.

An organ preservation system is provided. The organ preservation system is embodied in a sleeve adapted to maintain a pre-transplant organ at a temperature lower than ambient temperature through a plurality of bladders interconnected by a deformable mesh. With the organ in the sleeve, each vessel of the organ can pass through separate, deformable holes of the mesh, facilitating ease of identification of each vessel needed for the pending vascular anastomosis.

A tissue storage solution includes hypothermic storage compositions and methods. The hypothermic storage composition includes media containing Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) and albumin. A method of hypothermically storing tissue includes storing such tissue in a storage medium including DMEM and albumin. A method for wound or defect treatment includes applying tissue, stored in a hypothermic storage medium containing DMEM and albumin, to the site of such wound or defect.

The present disclosure describes systems, devices, compositions, and methods for live tissue preservation.

A fluid processing system includes a disposable fluid circuit and reusable hardware configured to accept the disposable fluid circuit. The disposable fluid circuit includes a spinning membrane separator, first and second syringes, and a flow control cassette. The reusable hardware includes a spinning membrane separator drive coupled to the spinning membrane separator, first and second syringe pumps coupled to the first and second syringes respectively, a control cassette interface coupled to the flow control cassette, and at least one controller coupled to the spinning membrane separator drive, the first and second syringe pumps, and the control cassette interface. The controller is configured to selectively operate the drive, the first and second syringe pumps, and the interface to provide a procedure according to a protocol.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for tissue, such as an allograft, storage and preservation for extended periods of time at room temperature in a sterile tissue culture chamber. The invention further provides a process for maintaining the sterility of tissue using the apparatus as described.