X-Message-Number: 10199
From: 
Date: Sat, 8 Aug 1998 12:44:01 EDT
Subject: cryobiologists' qualifications

Dr. Yuri Pichugin has done considerable work under the auspices of the
Cryonics Institute and the Immortalist Society. He has repeated and evaluated
the CI sheep head work, done cat brain work, and was the first to show
coordinated electrical activity in networks of neurons in rabbit brain pieces
thawed from liquid nitrogen temperature. (This may have partly inspired the
planned hippocampal slice work planned in California.)

Paul Wakfer (#10184) questioned Yuri Pichugin's right to be called "Dr." and
implied that this would give Dr. Pichugin's words more credibility than they
deserved. I posted a brief reply, but failed to take advantage of the
opportunity to say more, which I will now do.

I said my understanding was that Dr. Pichugin's status was equivalent to our
Ph.D. Regardless of that, the underlying question (from Wakfer's implied
viewpoint) is the extent of his formal credentials in cryobiology.

Clearly, Dr. Pichugin is a professional cryobiologist. He has the title of
Senior Researcher at the Institute for Problems of Cryobiology and
Cryomedicine at Kharkov University. As of 1996 he had 36 professional
publications in recognized journals. Now let's look at the interesting
question of how this compares with the formal credentials of researchers
connected with other cryonics organizations. 

Let me EMPHASIZE first that I am not denigrating anyone's ability or
contributions. People like Mike Darwin and Hugh Hixon and many others have
done meritorious work without benefit of any formal credentials worth
mentioning. But since Wakfer raised the issue of formal credentials, let's
pursue it. I think it can be generally agreed that, for any scientist, the
first evaluation of his formal qualifications will relate to his publications
in recognized journals.

Paul Segall (Ph.D.), Hal Sternberg (Ph.D.), and Harold Waitz (Ph.D.) have
connections to BioTime and Trans Time. To my knowledge, they have only a few
publications in recognized journals on the fringes of cryobiology, nothing at
cryogenic temperatures. Their main efforts have apparently related to
development of blood substitutes for hypothermic surgery and other
applications in clinical medicine.

At BioPreservation and Twenty First Century Medicine, I believe the leaders
are Mike Darwin, Brian Wowk (Ph.D.), and Steven Harris (M.D.). To my
knowledge, their collective total of publications in cryobiology in recognized
journals is zero.

At Alcor, likewise.

I leave aside the special case of Greg Fahy. He has more publications in
cryobiology than Dr. Pichugin, but his connection, if any, to cryonics or to
any cryonics organization is undisclosed, unless we count some unclear and
varying  reports of agreements with 21CM and INC.

Oh yes, let's not forget Dr. Pichugin's collaborator in the sheep head
work--electron microscopist Dr. Gennadi Zhegunov, Professor and Chairman of
the Department of Biology at Kharkov University. He also has a long list of
publications.

In sum, then, looking at formal qualifications on the basis of professional
publications in cryobiology in recognized journals, and leaving aside Greg
Fahy, researchers connected to the Cryonics Institute and the Immortalist
Society stand above those connected to all other cryonics organizations--not
just head and shoulders, but knees and ankles as well.

Again, those interested in reading some of the sheep head and cat brain work,
go to our web site--Contents and then Research. We will also post some of the
rabbit brain work after a bit.

And if you want to help in our further research, please remember that
contributions to the Immortalist Society are tax exempt--and research done in
the Ukraine will get you about seven-fold leverage on your money. And not one
cent goes to overhead or administration.

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society
http://www.cryonics.org

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