Patents by Inventor Matthew W. Warkentin

Matthew W. Warkentin has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9417166
    Abstract: A method and devices for rapid cooling of small biological samples by plunging them in a cryogenic liquid, such as liquid nitrogen, or contacting them with a cryogenic metal surface, reduce or eliminate the cold gas layer that forms above the liquid cryogens or cryogenic surfaces, producing an abrupt transition from ambient (e.g., room) temperature to the cryogen temperature as the sample enters the liquid or contacts the surface. To reduce or eliminate the effects of the cold gas layer, a flow of warm dry gas can be directed along the plunge path, for example. By removing this cold gas layer, cooling times for a 10 micron sample (the size of single cells and the smallest protein crystals now used protein crystallography) will decrease to ˜0.001 s.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2016
    Assignee: CORNELL UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Robert E. Thorne, Matthew W. Warkentin, Viatcheslav Berejnov
  • Publication number: 20090133410
    Abstract: A method and devices for rapid cooling of small biological samples by plunging them in a cryogenic liquid, such as liquid nitrogen, or contacting them with a cryogenic metal surface, reduce or eliminate the cold gas layer that forms above the liquid cryogens or cryogenic surfaces, producing an abrupt transition from ambient (e.g., room) temperature to the cryogen temperature as the sample enters the liquid or contacts the surface. To reduce or eliminate the effects of the cold gas layer, a flow of warm dry gas can be directed along the plunge path, for example. By removing this cold gas layer, cooling times for a 10 micron sample (the size of single cells and the smallest protein crystals now used protein crystallography) will decrease to ˜0.001 s.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2008
    Publication date: May 28, 2009
    Inventors: Robert E. Thorne, Matthew W. Warkentin, Viatcheslav Berejnov