Thawing methods and apparatus

A method of thawing a sample wherein said sample is within a container comprising an outer wall and an inner wall, said method comprising

• a) heating at least one region of the outer wall of said container to a temperature equal to or above that at which cellular damage occurs and wherein the inner wall of the container is at a temperature lower than that at which cellular damage occurs, or
• b) heating the container such that an outer wall region of said container corresponding to an inner wall region which contacts the sample, is heated to a temperature higher than another outer wall region corresponding to another inner wall region which does not contact the sample;
• and
• c) i) calculating an agitation program as a function of 1) either or both of a sample volume and a type of container, 2) a sample ice fraction in the sample, and 3) the thermal conductivity of the sample container;
• ii) agitating said sample according to the agitation program to agitate at least one region of the sample;
• iii) changing the agitation program applied to the at least one region of the sample in response to changes in the sample volume and the sample ice fraction;
• and
• iv) further agitating said sample according to the changed agitation program to agitate the at least one region of the sample.