X-Message-Number: 11496
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999 02:55:37 -0700
From: Mike Perry <>
Subject: Cell Sample Preservation

"xon tiffany," #11483, writes

>for those who are not yet ready to cryosuspend their
>bodies upon deanimation, is there a less expensive
>alternative available, namely to at least have a
>sample of their bodily tissues, probably it would be
>a blood sample, frozen so that at least the DNA could
>be preserved, until one is ready to finance full-body
>or brain-only suspension? in this way, at least one
>could be cloned at some future date. 

I don't know of any organization that currently advertizes such a service.
An even less expensive alternative would be room-temperature preservation of
a cell sample, embedded in epoxy or some other durable material. I would
advocate this (or freezing a cell sample), plus storage of records, tapes,
diaries, etc., for a better-than-clone reconstruction in the future, if
cryonic suspension isn't arrangeable. (And it should be done anyway as a
backup.) The room-temperature option is something you could do on your own,
without having to deal with an organization, though you would also have to
set things up somehow so that, after your death, the material would be
preserved and eventually used as you wished. For the freezing option, you
could try negotiating with one of the existing cryonics organizations,
though hopefully it will be easier in the future.

Mike Perry

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