It is with great pleasure that we invite you to attend the upcoming 61st Meeting of the Society for Low Temperature Biology, to be held at the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences at the on September 11-13, 2025. More details can be found here
Summer School in Cryobiology, 21-26 August 2024, Hannover, Germany
In memoriam Dr. William Frederick Rall (1951-2024)
In memoriam
Dr. William Frederick Rall (1951-2024)
Dr. William Frederick “Bill” Rall, 72, of Rockville, Maryland, peacefully departed this life on January 13, 2024, at Alfred House Assisted Living.
Bill was born in Bay Shore, New York on May 31, 1951, to William Alfred and Margaret Dorothy Rall. He grew up on Long Island, NY, the second of three children and the only boy. He received a B.A. degree in Physics from SUNY at New Paltz, where he met his wife Jane, and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Science from the University of Tennessee.
After receiving his Ph.D, Bill did post-doctoral research in cryobiology and reproductive physiology with the U.K.’s Medical and Agricultural Research Councils in London and Cambridge. Upon their return to the US, he continued his research at the American Red Cross in Bethesda, where he and a colleague were the first to demonstrate the viability of a technique for freezing mammalian embryos that is now the basis for what is used in human IVF.
After moving the family briefly to San Antonio, Texas to do further research on cattle embryo transfer and preservation, he returned to Maryland and worked at the Smithsonian/National Zoo to help preserve endangered species including the Eld’s deer of SE Asia. In the early 2000s he worked at the National Institutes of Health where he set up a frozen embryo bank of research animal models, saving the American taxpayer the expense of maintaining their live animal colonies. Later, he provided oversight for over 65 active grants through NIH’s National Center for Research Resources Division of Comparative Medicine. Throughout his career, Bill collaborated with research scientists in the U.K., the Netherlands and Hawaii, and spoke at scientific conferences in the U.K., Sweden/Denmark, Italy, Belgium, France, Canada and Australia. He was always willing and excited to open his home to host colleagues and friends.
Bill was an active member of Faith United Methodist Church, including spending many years as the usher coordinator. He also volunteered as an Assistant Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 447. Bill was passionate about promoting science education, and over the years mentored many graduate, post-graduate, and early career scientists. In his free time, he also enjoyed traveling, cruises, and chiming into conversations that were happening in the kitchen from his computer upstairs.
By the time he was diagnosed with dementia (at the age of 57) he had presented 25 invited talks at scientific conferences and workshops; contributed more than 60 abstracts for oral or poster presentations; and published 59 peer-reviewed research, book chapters and review papers. His work has been highly cited by other scientific investigators. Bill received a Distinguished Scientist, Reproductive Biology award from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in 2010 and was made a Fellow of the Society for Cryobiology in 2013.
Beyond the long and distinguished career which Bill undertook in the USA and associated with the Society for Cryobiology, in his early years as a postdoctoral fellow, Bill spent some years in Cambridge at the start of the 1980’s. He worked at the Animal Research Station under the leadership of
Professor Chris Polge, and his work was highly successful in the area of reproductive cryobiology, at a time when the scientific world was just recognising the potential of embryo and sperm cryopreservation. With David Reid, Bill developed on the of first working cryomicroscopes in the UK, which allowed him in Cambridge to probe many of the fundamental properties of ice nucleation, ice crystal growth and the ‘glassy’ transitions which up until that time had only been partially described. With Chris and Maureen Wood, he was able to describe cryobiological events during freezing in murine and bovine embryos, and interactions between warming conditions and ice recrystallization. Several important publications arose from the Polge –Rall interactions in those years.
Bill’s interest in the ‘glassy’ transitions also led him to collaborate with Greg Fahy in the concept of embryo vitrification, which led to the seminal Nature publication in 1985 on recovery of murine embryos after a vtrifictation protocol. During his time in Cambridge, Bill attended several SLTB meetings and was always keen to discuss his work in the relaxed environments they engendered. Bill was always kind and generous towards other colleagues and students, and lit up discussions with his ‘blue skies’ lateral thinking. He will be sadly missed.
Rall WF, Reid DS, Farrant J. Innocuous biological freezing during warming.Nature. 1980 Jul 31;286(5772):511-4. doi: 10.1038/286511a0. PMID: 7402331 No abstract available.
Rall WF, Fahy GM. Ice-free cryopreservation of mouse embryos at -196 degrees C by vitrification. Nature. 1985 Feb 14-20;313(6003):573-5. doi: 10.1038/313573a0. PMID: 3969158
Rall WF, Czlonkowska M, Barton SC, Polge C. Cryoprotection of day-4 mouse embryos by methanol. J Reprod Fertil. 1984 Jan;70(1):293-300. doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0700293. PMID: 6363691
Rall WF, Reid DS, Polge C. Analysis of slow-warming injury of mouse embryos by cryomicroscopical and physiochemical methods. Cryobiology. 1984 Feb;21(1):106-21. doi: 10.1016/0011-2240(84)90027-0. PMID: 6713935 No abstract available.
Lehn-Jensen H, Rall WF. Cryomicroscopic observations of cattle embryos during freezing and thawing. Theriogenology. 1983 Feb;19(2):263-77. doi: 10.1016/0093-691x(83)90013-4. PMID: 16725794
Rall WF, Polge C. Effect of warming rate on mouse embryos frozen and thawed in glycerol. J Reprod Fertil. 1984 Jan;70(1):285-92. doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0700285. PMID: 6363690
Rall WF, Wood MJ, Kirby C, Whittingham DG. Development of mouse embryos cryopreserved by vitrification.J Reprod Fertil. 1987 Jul;80(2):499-504. doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0800499. PMID: 3656282
Ukraine & Kharkiv Researchers Support Foundation
Dear friends! Dear colleagues!
Institute for Problems of Cryobiology and Cryomedicine (IPCC) is the biggest well-known research center of cryobiology in Ukraine. IPCC is based in the city of Kharkiv, the second largest city of Ukraine, just 30 km away from the Russian-Ukrainian border. Kharkiv became almost empty in a couple of days after the beginning of military aggression of Russia against Ukraine.
Those who had to stay in the city tried to continue their daily routine and maintain life-sustaining activity in the city and IPCC in particular (both remotely and in-person). However, days of long-term shelling and bombardments of city infrastructure by Russian troops resulted in frequent power outages and voltage fluctuations, which in turn caused equipment failures, reagent deterioration and hinder the research progress of the Institute.
Moreover, the ongoing war with its impact on life, ecology and economy of Ukraine has a huge impact on providing an adequate allocation of funding as well as supporting science and researchers in the near future.
To address the challenges and to manage the consequences of Russia’s invasion which hit hard science and its funding, in particular at the IPCC, the “Ukraine and Kharkiv Researchers Support” Charitable Fund (UKRSF) (ukrsf.org.ua) was established by a group of the IPCC employees.
The main areas of the fund’s activity are
1) to support the staff forced to stay in Kharkiv through the wartime to perform their projects and ongoing duties, and
2) to contribute to the preservation and development of scientific potential of the Institute during the post-war period.
We will greatly appreciate it if you consider any type of support as for the missions of our fund.
Annual Conference of Young Scientists "Cold in Biology and Medicine - 2023" May 23rd, 2023 Kharkіv, Ukraine
Dear colleagues!
Longer than a year Russia's military invasion to Ukraine, has made Kharkiv and the Institute for Problems of Cryobiology and Cryomedicine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine the zone of active hostilities. Nevertheless, we are invincible, so despite the obstacles, the leadership and staff of the Institute go on their scientific and educational activities.
The Council of Young Scientists jointly with the Administration of the Institute for Problems of Cryobiology and Cryomedicine of the NAS of Ukraine are pleased to invite you to participate in the 47th Annual Conference of Young Scientists
"Cold in Biology and Medicine - 2023".
Details of participation
Young scientists, PhD students, undergraduate students are welcome to take part in the conference activity.
The work of the conference is planned in three major areas: cryobiology, cryomedicine, biotechnology.
The main topics are as follows:
mechanisms of damage to biological objects under the influence of low and extremely low temperatures;
low temperature storage of human, animal or plant cells, tissues, organs, including preparing for storage, thawing/warming;
culturing of cells and tissues;
response of biological objects to low temperature;
mechanisms of natural cold resistance of living systems and recovery after cold exposure;
cold adaptation in animals and plants;
low and extremely low temperatures in medicine;
experimental and clinical transplantation;
cryobiological and cryomedical devices;
low temperature banks and depositories.
Conference languages: Ukrainian, English.
Presentation formats: oral (Ukrainian/English), poster.
Abstracts of the report and presentation of illustrative materials of the oral report (slides) should be submitted in English, regardless of the language of the report to be presented.
The poster should be presented in English and submitted as *.pdf file (to be posted to the conference website https://coldbiomed.cryo.org.ua/ on the eve of the event).
Participation in the conference is free!
At the same time, everyone can contribute and support the Armed Forces of Ukraine by transferring funds to account 4731 1856 1290 4265 (Internet card of Privat Bank) to the name of Oleksandr Shilo.
The conference will be held online via zoom platform.
To participate in the conference, you need to be registered by May 1st, 2023 and the abstracts of the report must be sent by filling out the form at the link https://forms.gle/WszEeGSYeveWxyRG6.
The abstract will be electronically published in the Abstract book as well as in the Problems of Cryobiology and Cryomedicine journal (Scopus-indexed).
Each speaker will receive a participant certificate.
Requirements for abstract:
It is recommended to adhere to the following structure in abstract:
introduction;
materials and methods;
results;
conclusions.
References should be noted in square brackets with the name of the first author and the year of publication. Drawings, graphs and tables are not accepted.
For writing abstract, use the MS Word application, place the text on one sheet of A4 format, with margins of 2 cm on all sides, Times New Roman font, 14 pt point, single spacing. At the beginning of the text, place the title of the report, on the next line the surname of the author (authors), below - the place of work, then with one space, provide the text of abstract. Name the file after the first author's last name and upload to the registration form.
To create a file with abstracts, it is recommended to use template.
The organizing committee keeps the right to edit and reject abstracts not corresponding to the theme of the conference or are not designed according to the requirements.
Requirements for creating a poster:
When creating a poster, it is recommended to follow the following rules:
landscape orientation;
16:9 aspect ratio;
high resolution.
The created poster must be saved in .pdf format and sent to the conference e-mail: coldbiomed@gmail.com after notification of the acceptance of your abstract.