US Patent 12,588,674 B2  ·  Cryogenic Cooler

The cold finger
that ended the
open bucket.

VitriGen is a mechanically cooled vitrification system that replaces liquid nitrogen entirely — reaching temperatures LN2 cannot, with a sterile, single‑use surface for every patient. No open dewar. No vapor layer. No shared LN2.

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52K/ −221°C cold finger temperature
0mL of liquid nitrogen required
52+peer-reviewed SSV studies since 2002
The status quo

Every open-bucket vitrification step is a contamination opportunity.

In a standard IVF laboratory, liquid nitrogen sits in an open foam container near the workstation. An embryologist plunges a vitrification stick into that shared LN2 by hand, under time pressure, to hit the cooling rate before ice crystals form. The published literature is blunt about what that workflow risks.

(a) straw + oocyte contaminated LN2 (b) (c) stored, contaminated (d) warming (e)

The open-vitrification pathway: a straw is plunged into shared, frequently re-used LN2 (b), stored alongside it (c), then warmed (d) — any one of these steps can transfer contamination into the germplasm (e). Adapted from Joaquim et al., BioMed Research International, 2017.

Contamination Risks

Commercial LN2 is not sterilized. Re-used dewars could carry pathogens between patients, and straws stored in shared tanks sit in direct contact with that liquid.

Vapor gradient

As LN2 boils off, a layer of varying-temperature vapor forms over the surface. Embryos pass through warmer zones —−100°C to −160°C— before ever reaching −196°C, risking ice crystal formation on the way down.

Handler safety

Direct-plunge technique demands a rapid hand motion into an open cryogenic container. Face shields and thermal gloves make the precise motion harder, not safer.

Asphyxiation risk

LN2 displaces oxygen as it evaporates. Embryologists work near an open oxygen-enrichment and asphyxiation hazard, cycle after cycle.

The mechanism

One sealed cold finger. No cryogen to refill, ever.

VitriGen brings mechanical cooler technology — the same class of closed-cycle cryocooler used to keep nuclear and radiation-detection instruments at deep cryogenic temperatures — to the IVF bench. A Stirling-cycle cooling source drives a thermally conductive copper cold finger down to 52 Kelvin, roughly 20°C colder than LN2 alone can reach.

01

Mechanical cooling, no LN2 bucket

An electrically refrigerated cryostat cools a copper cold finger inside an insulated vessel. There is no LN2 dewar to fill, no boil-off to manage, and no open container near the workstation.

02

A new sterile dish, every patient

A single-use solid surface freezing dish seats on the cold finger. Because it's replaced and sterilized between patients, there's no shared surface and no re-used LN2 for cross-contamination to travel through.

03

Inert gas purges the vapor gradient

A gas line feeds an inert gas — Helium, Argon, or Nitrogen — around the cold finger and out past the dish, continuously enveloping it and purging room-temperature air before it can condense or frost on the vitrification surface.

04

Direct plunge, on a sterile solid surface

The embryologist vitrifies on the chilled dish using the same direct-contact technique they already know — just without the open cryogenic container, the vapor layer, or the shared liquid underneath it.

53K/−220°C Lowest vitrification temperature achieved without frosting the surface
77K/−196°C Temperature achievable using the inert gas system alone
340yrs Mean time to failure of the underlying cryocooler unit (Cryo-Pulse 5 Plus)
Issued intellectual property

This isn't a concept. It's a granted patent.

US Patent 12,588,674 B2, "Cryogenic Cooler," was granted on March 31, 2026 to the inventors Daniel A. Nemeth, Lee L. Nemeth along with Rod DaSilva, claiming the gas-purged mechanical cooling architecture behind VitriGen.

Patent No.US 12,588,674 B2
FiledMay 2, 2022
GrantedMarch 31, 2026
Claims16 claims · 5 drawing sheets

Claim 1 covers a cold finger coupled to a cooling source, an insulating vessel with a gas passageway around it, and a freezing disk in thermal contact with the cold finger — engineered so gas flow purges room air and envelops the disk before condensation or frost can form.

38 34 22 24 26 28 16 12 FIG. 1 — EXPLODED VIEW
38 34 16/22 24 26 28 12/14 FIG. 2 — GAS PATHWAY
Clinical evidence

Solid surface vitrification isn't new science. The cooling source is.

Solid surface vitrification (SSV) has been studied since 2002, across more than fifty published papers on oocytes, embryos, and blastocysts. VitriGen doesn't ask embryologists to trust a new biological technique — it removes LN2 from a cooling method that already has a clinical track record.

Preliminary clinical study

Blastocyst cryopreservation using solid surface vitrification produced survival and clinical outcomes comparable to conventional methods, supporting SSV as a viable alternative for blastocyst cryopreservation.

Kamath, Mohan S. et al. — Journal of Human Reproductive Sciences, vol. 4,3 (2011): 114–20. doi:10.4103/0974-1208.92284
52studies

Published on solid surface vitrification since 2002, across oocytes, embryos and blastocysts.

2010s

Cryologic's CVM (Australia) proved market demand for SSV hardware — built on the same surface-vitrification principle VitriGen now runs without LN2.

Why now

Regulators are already writing LN2 out of the lab.

This isn't a hypothetical risk embryologists manage informally. It's becoming a written compliance burden — and the market is large enough that removing it is worth solving.

$1.1Bby 2033

Projected size of the global vitrification device market, up from roughly $500M in 2024 — a 9.5% CAGR driven largely by the shift toward closed and contamination-controlled systems.

71.8%of vitrification spend

Share of the broader vitrification market controlled by IVF clinics alone, with Europe holding the single largest regional share at 38.2%.

ESHRE Good Practice Recommendations, IVF Lab — 2026 draft
  • Cryostorage tanks must be continuously monitored with alarm systems that detect and log out-of-range temperature and LN2 level.
  • Protective equipment — face shields, cryogloves, aprons, footwear — must be used during all LN2 handling.
  • All staff working with LN2 must be specifically trained in the safety aspects of its use.

Every one of those requirements exists because LN2 is hazardous and not inherently sterile. A mechanical cold finger with no open cryogen doesn't need an alarmed tank, a face shield protocol, or a separate handling-safety course — the hazard the guideline is managing simply isn't present.

Beyond IVF

The same LN2 dependency shows up in stem cell biobanking.

Stem cell and cell-therapy biobanks face the identical trade-off: LN2 storage is the default because most cryoprotectant formulations are thermally unstable above it, but it carries the same cost, safety, and contamination burden seen in IVF labs. A mechanical cooling source that reaches LN2-class temperatures without the tank is relevant to both markets the original ESHRE 2023 presentation was built around — reproductive medicine and stem cell applications alike.

Where VitriGen sits in the market

Closed carriers solved contamination in the straw. Nobody removed the tank.

Open-carrier systems plunge directly into shared LN2. Closed-carrier systems — the category most labs have moved to — seal the embryo away from the liquid, but still depend entirely on an open dewar of LN2 sitting at the bench. VitriGen is the only approach in this set that removes the cryogen itself.

Open LN2 carrier
e.g. cryoloop, direct plunge		 Closed LN2 carrier
e.g. Rapid-i, cryotip systems		 VitriGen
mechanical cold finger
LN2 required at the bench Yes, open container Yes, sealed dewar None
Embryo contacts shared cryogen Direct contact Sealed off Sealed off
Vapor-layer temperature gradient Present Reduced Purged by inert gas
Lowest achievable temperature 77K / −196°C 77K / −196°C 53K / −220°C
Asphyxiation / handling hazard Open exposure Reduced, still present Minimized
Per-patient sterile surface Not applicable Single-use carrier Single-use dish
Cryogen refill / supply chain Continuous LN2 supply Continuous LN2 supply None — closed-cycle cooler

Comparison reflects publicly described mechanisms of representative product categories. Always confirm current specifications with each manufacturer.

VitriGen mobile cryo cart, CAD render — wheeled cart with insulated lid, touch screen, and storage shelf VitriGen mobile cryo cart — engineering render
The cryo cart

Built for the IVF Lab.

The cooling source ships inside a mobile cart designed to sit directly at the IVF workstation or laminar flow hood — full control over beaker temperature through an on-board touch screen, with short-term storage built in.

Touch screen control

Full visibility and control over cold finger temperature from the cart itself.

Insulated lid

Covers the interior area to hold the cryo finger at temperature when not actively in use.

Single-use sterile dish

A new solid surface freezing dish per patient, removable and replaceable between cases.

Short-term on-cart storage

Holds vitrified samples on the cart before transfer to long-term cryogenic storage.

Power

120V / 240V — compatible with standard lab electrical service.

Retrofit-ready

Adaptable to existing biosafety cabinets and IVF workstations already in the lab.

What's next in the pipeline

From short-term freezing to a full long-term storage standard.

01

Long-term cryogenic storage

Move beyond short-term freezing into long-term storage of vitrified material, built entirely on mechanical cooler technology — no LN2 tank to maintain.

02

Ultra-fast freezing studies

Research programs on super-fast freezing of oocytes and blastocysts, alongside work toward eliminating toxic vitrification cryoprotectant solutions.

03

Next-generation media

Determine how current cryoprotectant media performs under faster freezing rates — and whether a new vitrification media needs to be developed alongside it.

ASRM Scientific Congress 2026  ·  Baltimore, MD  ·  Oct 24–28

Let's talk before
you leave the floor.

This year's ASRM theme is Discovery, Innovation, and Advancement — and VitriGen is the only vitrification system at the congress that advances all three at once. Moving from patent to pipeline: if you run an IVF lab, a fertility network, or a stem cell program, reach out to Rod directly.

Rod DaSilva E-Cryogenics
Phone / WhatsApp +1 (203) 727-3405 Email rod@ecryogenics.com
Call or message Rod