X-Message-Number: 14229
From: 
Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2000 02:23:11 EDT
Subject: Where is a current summary?

Greetings All:  

This is a request for a pointer to a site that summarizes the current 
state-of-the-art. 

Two or three years ago I found material which put me pretty well up on 
things. 

As I recall the overall status, vitrification was promising and it appeared 
crystalization might be prevented during freezing by using a high pressure 
chamber.  However it tended to occur during thawing too unless very high thaw 
rates were used.  It was impossible to achieve such rates (and -- was there a 
uniformity problem with some regions remaining too cold?) [Is this still 
true?]

Overall, everything from embryos to aortas could be frozen and thawed 
successfully, but nothing bigger.  21CM thought they had money and capability 
to succeed with kidneys and that would give them money enough to go on to 
whole bodies in ten years or so.

Now I gather that 21CM has  found improved vitrification fluids that by 
themselves leave brain slices ~95 percent functional (not after 
freeze-and-thaw, just after exposure to the fluid.)

And nobody else seems to be making progress.

Also, Prometheus had received some money but afterwards the site never seemed 
to be updated. [Did it get more or what?]

Can anyone correct and update the summary?  Is there a single site where I 
can track the status and progress of the problems?

Cheers,

Alan Mole

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