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The Translational MixerAuthor: Andy Marshall
Two lapsed Nature editors, Andy Marshall and Juan-Carlos Lopez, have a conversation and a cocktail with experts in translational research and biomedicine Language: en-us Genres: Life Sciences, Science Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Episode 10: Sebastian Giwa blazing a trail in organ storage/transplantation ...and a flaming Sambuca
Episode 10
Wednesday, 1 January, 2025
Send us a textSebastian Giwa, co-founder of the Organ Preservation Alliance and the Biostasis Research Institute and serial entrepreneur, talks to JC and Andy about the promise of organ storage research in transplantation. Seb obtained a PhD in Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics and was named a Baker Scholar at Harvard and worked at Bridgewater Associates, Bain and Goldman Sachs. Since spending time at Singularity University/NASA's Global Solutions Program and working with the Obama White House, he has worked tirelessly to galvanize the new field of whole organ preservation seeking to massively expand the availability of donor organs for the hundreds of thousands of patients awaiting transplants. Seb's ventures in preservation: Sylvatica Biotech (named for the wood frog that can survive freezing and developing supercooling technology to extend organ life), Ossium Health (bone marrow banking from deceased organ donors for patients with sickle cell anemia, leukemia, and lymphoma), and GaiaLife (human ovary vitrification for girls with cancer who have not yet reached puberty). Seb's preferred digestivo: Flaming Sambuca ("Sambuca, ghiaccio e mosche"; roughly translated: “Sambuca, ice and flies.”)You will need:1 2-1/2 oz shot glass3 coffee beans1.5 fluid Oz (44 mL) of sambuca1 Butane lighterDirections: Place the beans at the bottom of the glass. Pour in the Sambuca. Use the lighter (do not use matches containing sulfur or phosphorus; preferably long-reach lighter to avoid setting yourself alight!) to light the sambuca, then wait until the flame is low/blue and cover the shot glass with your hand to extinguish it. Groups mentioned:Bischof, J and colleagues. Physical vitrification and nanowarming at human organ scale to enable cryopreservation. BioRxiv. Physical vitrification and nanowarming at human organ scale to enable cryopreservation (November 11, 2024; non-peer-reviewed preprint).Rubsinky, B and colleagues. Bioengineering 10, (2023) Kizer, KW et al (eds). Realizing the Promise of Equity in the Organ Transplantation System. (National Academies Press; Washington DC; 2022). "Five years ago, even top cryobiologists doubted that a human organ would ever be successfully frozen and thawed...My opinion has changed." Janet Elliott, Canada Research Chair in Thermodynamics at the University of Alberta. Scuddelari, M. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 114, 13060-13062 (2017).Toner, M., and colleagues. The promise of organ and tissue preservation to transform medicine. Nat. Biotechnol. 35, 530–542 (2017).Uygun, K. and colleagues. Supercooling enables long-term transplantation survival following 4 days of liver preservation. Nat. Med. 20, 790–793 (2014)The Mixer music “Pour Me Another” courtesy of Smooth Moves!
