X-Message-Number: 6383 From: (Brian Wowk) Newsgroups: sci.cryonics Subject: Importance of Brain Cryopreservation Date: 24 Jun 96 18:34:51 GMT Message-ID: <> David L. Evans writes: > The real question is: Will vitrification be a general enough procedure to > allow whole organisms to be vitrified and rewarmed and revived? Unfortunately, no. Vitrification as a general approach is extremely promising, but each organ will likely require its own special cocktail to avoid cryoprotective agent (CPA) toxicity. The question we as cryonicists need to ask is what organ do we want the CPA optimized for next? I have argued that if our intention is sufficiently resolute, the resources exist within the cryonics community to make *the brain* the next target organ. With the kidney work likely to be completed within the next one or two years, a rare window of opportunity is openning up. We can say to these researchers, look, here is X amount of dollars for ten years, see what you can do now for brains. They themselves might regard the project as, well... peculiar, but money talks. If cryonicists don't step in with some kind of offer, they are going to get grants from the Heart Foundation, Liver Foundation, etc. etc. and be tied up with those projects for another 10 years while cryonics technology languishes in its current dismal state. What a pathetic waste and lost opportunity that would be. *************************************************************************** Brian Wowk CryoCare Foundation 1-800-TOP-CARE President Human Cryopreservation Services http://www.cryocare.org/cryocare/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=6383