New Website Launch 

The Society for Cryobiology is pleased to announce the launch of their brand new website. 

New Features

• Completely Updated Template - Mobile responsive template with a fresh, modern feel.
• Integrated Payment Gateway - Say goodbye to Paypal. You'll now stay on the Society's site while you check out using your credit or debit card. 
• Automated Dues Invoicing - Dues renewal notices will be triggered automatically with each member receiving a customized invoice to pay online. Simply click the button in your email, and pay online with your credit card. 
• Updated Membership Form - Apply or renew using the same form, with advanced field logic permissioning fields to appropriate applicants/users only. 
• New Job Board - The Society has partnered with JobBoard.io who offer special pricing to Associations. Post your job on the Society's Job Board only, or push it out to the entire Zip Recruiter network. The choices is yours. 
• Brand New Member Directory - Logged in members can search for members, or view the entire directory (members must opt in to the directory to be viewable).
• Updated and Revised Members' Area - Stay tuned as we add more members' only content over the coming year. 
• New 'Industry' Menu Item - A call to action for industry professionals to get involved with the Society by supporting our Annual Meeting
• New 'Resources' Menu Item - New pages include 'Position Statements', 'Scientific Partners', and a soon to be added Press Release page. 
• Sponsor Widget - We can now recognize the sponsors of our Annual Meeting using a sponsor advertisement which will appear in the sidebar, or at the bottom of your screen. 
• Donation Widget - A high visibility call to action asking site visitors to donate to the Society. 
• Upgraded Events Calendar - Now dynamically displays event name, date and location in an automatically generated events calendar. 

Membership Dues Increase

At the Board of Governor's end of year quarterly meeting they voted to increase individual membership dues from $75, to $90 for the 2019 membership year. This is the first increase in membership dues since 2015. The price of the journal subscription remains unchanged at $185 for 6 issues over 12 months. 

The additional funds will go towards supporting the recently created Young Investigator Award, which will be available to enter by young professionals <10 years post-PhD. The award will carry an honorarium of $5,000, and the opportunity for the winner to present their research in a plenary session or symposium at the Society's Annual Meeting. 

The next anticipated review of membership dues will be in 2022. 

Election 2018

Nominations are now open for the 2018 election for 3 governors 2019-2021

The nominations committee is now inviting nominations from all Society members in good standing for the position of Governor 2019-2021. There are 3 posts available. 

Please register your interest in standing for election with Nicole Evans by June 1, 2018. A detailed biography and candidate statement outlining your vision for the Society will be requested thereafter. 

The 2018 nominating committee is: 
Adam Higgins (Chair; President-Elect)
Dayong Gao (President)
Greg Fahy (Governor)
Erik Woods (Governor)
Ido Braslavsky (Governor)

Please note all nominations are subject to approval by the nominations committee. This does not affect your right to nomination by petition as outlined in the society's bylaws. 

Motion to Adopt Revised Bylaws 

Time is running out to vote in the motion put to all members to revise the Society's bylaws. Voting closes December 31, 2017 at 23:59 ET. 

Read the revised bylaws and the summary of changes. 

All members in good standing should have received by now several emails with instructions for online voting. If you have not received these emails please check your spam/junk folder and then contact us. 

The revised bylaws currently before the members are the culmination of approximately three years work, and at least 10 years of discussion by the Board of Governors. The past year in particular has seen outstanding progress by a special bylaws working group chaired by current President, Jason Acker. This group has worked tirelessly alongside Maryland Nonprofits, an association for Maryland nonprofit associations, to update our ageing bylaws, which currently date from 1995.  

The members of the bylaws working group in full are: Jason Acker (chair), Ed Kordoski (Executive Director), Greg Fahy (governor), and Society members Elena Salvaterra, Andy Picken, and Steve Mullen. 

BYLAWS FAQ

Governor, Serean Adams, in the News

Serean Adams, pictured at Cawthron Aquaculture Park in Nelson, New Zealand.

Society Governor, Dr. Serean Adams, was in the news after speaking about the future and challenges facing aquaculture at New Zealand's recent industry conference held in Nelson, New Zealand.

Dr. Adams, who completed her PhD under Cryobiology Editor-in-Chief, Prof. David Rawson, is now Aquaculture Group Manager at Cawthron Institute, New Zealand's largest independent science organisation, specialising in science that supports the environment and development within primary industries. 

Read the full article to see what Serean has to say about the future of marine cryobiology. 

Searching for Outstanding Individuals 

The Society for Cryobiology established the award and medal of CryoFellow over a decade ago in recognition of members of the society and individuals from the cryobiology community who have had an outstanding impact on the field.

Miao Zhang Defends Thesis 

Student member of the Society for Cryobiology, Miao Zhang, is to defend her thesis on June 23, 2017. During her PhD studies Ms. Zhang received the Society's John K. Critser award for the best extended student abstract in 2015 and the Peter L. Steponkus Crystal award for the best student oral presentation at the Society's meeting in 2016.

Thesis: Towards dry preservation of mammalian cellls
The central aim of this thesis was to test if trehalose can be introduced into mammalian cells during freezing-induced membrane permeabilization and if this subsequently stabilizes cells during freezing and/or freeze-drying. It was hypothesized that membrane-impermeable molecules including trehalose can be loaded into cells through freezing-induced membrane phase transitions. One of the conclusions was that mammalian cells can be loaded with membrane-impermeable compounds (i.e. trehalose) by subjecting the cells to freezing-induced osmotic stress and membrane imperfections. It was shown that trehalose can be used as sole cryoprotectant to cryopreserve cells. Preloading with trehalose via fluid-phase endocytosis did not increase cryosurvival rates if trehalose is also added as extracellular protectant. It is particularly freezing-induced trehalose uptake that facilitates cryosurvival when trehalose is used as the sole cryoprotectant. One other aim was to investigate if freezing-induced uptake of trehalose stabilizes cells during freeze-drying, and to assess the effect of trehalose on storage stability of DNA during freeze-drying and dried storage. No viable cells were recovered after freeze-drying and rehydration. DNA was found to be largely intact directly after freeze-drying. DNA damage in freeze-dried cells progressively increases with storage duration and temperature. DNA damage was prevented by storage of the samples at 4°C. It was shown that trehalose reduces DNA damage during storage.

Biography
Miao Zhang received her education at Southeast University (Nanjing, China) (BE, 2011), after which she completed master's studies at Ulm University (Ulm, Germany) (MSc, 2013). She was accepted in the PhD program ‘Regenerative Sciences’ in 2013 at Hannover Medical School (Hannover, Germany) and conducted her PhD project at the Institute of Multiphase Processes, Leibniz University of Hannover (Hannover, Germany), under the supervision of Dr. Willem Wolkers. 

GE Healthcare Purchases Asymptote

GE Healthcare has recently purchased Asymptote. Founder and CEO of Asymptote, John Morris, is a long time member of the Society for Cryobiology. 

Peter Mazur Memorial Website 

Fritz Kleinhans has recently unveiled a memorial website for the late Peter Mazur. Fritz has invited members of the Society for Cryobiology to submit photographs or remembrances for inclusion on the site. 

Peter Mazur (1928-2015) was a pioneer and leading figure in the world of cryobiology for over 50 years. He was a founding member of the Society for Cryobiology and served as President from 1973-1974. He served numerous terms as Governor and was active at board meeting even while not in office (no one argued with Peter!). He was also a member of the editorial board from 1967 until his death.

Close friends and colleagues of Peter's, Fritz Kleinhans and David Pegg, wrote a touching obituary which was published in the April 2016 issue of Cryobiology. The obituary, along with photos and details of Peter's most important research can all be found on the memorial website.  

New Member Welcome

Do you have what it takes to govern the Society for Cryobiology?