Dr. Linda Hayes Aerospace Engineering Dept Campus Mail Code C0600 U Texas Austin Austin, Texas 78712 lhayes@mail.utexas.edu
512-471-4208 512-471-2125
Cryosurgery and cryopreservation of human tissues are research areas with important ramifications for the field of modern medicine. Successful destruction of target tissue and successful preservation of tissue at low temperatures requires sophisticated freezing and thawing protocols. The first step in the development of these protocols is a proper understanding of the process of tissue freezing. In freezing tissue, there are three regimes of interest, an unfrozen zone, a frozen zone and a mushy zone consisting of both frozen and unfrozen phases. It is in this mushy zone that the critical interactions occur between the freeze front and the living cells and in which the ultimate survival or destruction of the cell is determined.