A PINCH of sugar could make human tissues as convenient to store as baker’s
yeast or drugs. Two new tricks for adding a protective sugar to cells enable
them to resist freezing and drying. Cells stored in this way could one day be
used to treat conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.
Preserving most human cells by freezing or drying them is problematic,
because the ice crystals that form during freezing damage cells, and desiccation
flattens them. But some organisms such as yeast survive both insults by
producing the sugar trehalose which coats important cell components and also
stops ice crystals…
