Institute for Problems of Cryobiology and Cryomedicine has always been the unique establishment of such a profile within the country and NIS.

In 1972 the Institute counted 6 scientific departments and employed 4 Doctors and 33 candidates of sciences.

Major trends for scientific investigations of the Institute were:

• fundamental studies of the mechanisms for cryodamage and cryoprotection of biological structures at different level of their organization;
• studying the antigen rearrangement in tissues during the process of low temperature preservation;
• working-out the scientifically approved methods for low temperature tissue preservation and production of the cryogenic equipment;
• discovering and studying the new cryoprotectants.

In 1976 at the Institute there was established and approved the Scientific Defense Council on the specialty "cryobiology" and "cryomedicine".

To introduce the scientific achievements into practice the City Clinical hospital N3 was set to be the major clinical base for the Institute. In 1979 for this purpose was there chosen the clinical Hospital of Southern Railway.

Later within the frames of the scientific trends mentioned at the Institute there have been continued the investigations directed to studying the effect of low temperatures and related to them factors on proteins, enzyme systems, membrane structures, systems of neurohumoral regulation, as well as cells, tissues and organs in order to reveal the mechanisms of damage and reparation, as well as finding the possible ways of biological objects cryoprotection.

In 1980 at the Institute there was established the Specialized Council on thesis defense for Doctor's degree obtaining on the specialties: cryobiology and human and animals' physiology.

On December 22nd, 1981 there was held the 1st meeting of Scientific Council on Doctor and Candidate theses' defense on the specialty "cryobiology".

The institute developed as a complex R&D establishment where the scientists of different scientific fields were working together. Since 1981 the Special Designing and Technological Bureau has functioned where the equipment both for scientific investigations and industrial use in the field of cryobiology and cryomedicine is produced.

Since 1983 the Institute has been headed by Valentin I. Grischenko .

In May 1994 at the Institute there was organized the Ukrainian Society for Cryobiology and Cryomedicine, the first meeting of which was held in October 1995.

At the Institute within the Department for Cryobiology of reproduction systems there was organized the Ukrainian-American Laboratory for reproduction and genetics (UAL), headed by academician Grischenko V.I. and Professor Verlinsky Yu.S., Director of the Institute for Reproduction and Genetics in Chicago (USA).

November the 12th, 1997 on the base of the Institute there was formed the Interdepartmental Center for Cryobiology and Cryomedicine, the major task of which was considered to be the use of the most profound achievements of the Institute in the field of fundamental and applied cryobiology and cryomedicine.

In 1998 at the Institute there was created the International Chair in Cryobiology under UNESCO aegis. The Chair is headed by Professor Colin J. Green (UK), Academician V.I. Grischenko is the Chair coordinator.

In 1997-1999 basing on the profound methods there was formed the novel trend in medicine: cell therapy. These scientific methods have been used in this field for decades by numerous medical establishments both in Kharkov and regions, the entire Ukraine and abroad.

Within the whole period of activity the Institute collaborates with many foreign partners in the UK, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Israel, USA, Japan etc.

Nowadays the Institute has 16 scientific departments. 18 Doctors of sciences and 116 candidates of sciences are presently working here.

The Institute has the series of scientific achievements which were successfully introduced into medical establishments. Among them should be mentioned the technique for ultra-rapid cooling and freezing of human sperm and embryos, cryopreservation and lyophilization of organisms of various taxonomic groups, long-term storage of various biological objects, transplantation and correction of endocrine dysfunctions using cryopreserved cells and tissues, treatment of the diseases of different etiology by using such cryopreserved bioobjects as neuronal and hematopoietic cells.

The photos on this page are presented by Prof. Sandomirsky and Acad. Grischenko (the photo marked with *)