X-Message-Number: 14288
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 14:59:49 -0700 (PDT)
From: Doug Skrecky <>
Subject: Crippling Vitrification

In Message #14282  wrote:

>BioPreservation is gone, CryoCare is  on ice , the Prometheus Project
 never raised one cent , CryoSpan seems to be on its way out, and INC's
 perpetual underfunding seems to be starving it to death.
<
    If vitrification research is the goal, why not just do some
experiments? Not all experiments have to be expensive, with my fly freezer
experiment being one example. (My next fly longevity update will have a
little more on this.)
    With respect to vitrification, the main roadblock to success appears
to be toxicity. A cheap experiment testing means for reducing this might
run something as follows. Expose water fleas, hydras, or some other very
small aquatic organism to various potentially protective additives in
their water for a few days. Reduce temperature to close to
freezing, and start loading cryoprotectant into a test tube containing
some of the organisms. See if cryoprotectant tolerance is increased with
any additive. If so get rich (maybe).
    Are there any grad students out there willing to do this sort of
experiment for a modest fee? Is there anyone willing to provide funding?

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