X-Message-Number: 13837
Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000 11:14:50 -0700
From: Mike Perry <>
Subject: New Neuro Options

Fred Chamberlain wrote (CryoNet #13823), regarding new cryopreservation
possibilities,

>Right now, a technical seminar is in progress at Alcor, sponsored financially
>by BioTransport, Inc., in which the participants include the most
>knowledgeable
>and medically qualified people in Alcor, as well as representatives of both
>21st Century Medicine, Inc. and Critical Care Research, Inc.  One of the
>tradeoffs being discussed concerns doing neuros at "whole body" prices so that
>an almost perfect state of vitrification can be achieved.  The higher level of
>funding required would in some respects be brought about by very high rate
>cooling to get the benefits of freeze blockers and advanced cryoprotectants
>which will not work well unless those rates are achieved.  Other cost-drivers
>are the needs to store in the temperature range of -130 to -140 Celsius, with
>high reliability.  So, already the better chances of survival would go to
>those
>who could afford the higher cost neuro option.

A thought that occurs is that if there is to be a neuro-at-whole-body-price
option that involves longterm storage at -130 or so (presumably more
expensive than LN2 storage) then there should also be a less expensive neuro
option that would perfuse with the new and better protocol but store at LN2
temp. In this way you would have a near-vitrified brain that might be
cracked a bit but otherwise would be undamaged. (Bob Ettinger's suggestion
of the possibility of longterm storage at -130 without added cost has merit
too, but needs further investigation.)  For myself, and I imagine a sizable
number of other Alcor members are in this predicament, I have more than
enough funding for my current neuro option but less than needed for a
whole-body freeze. It may be that I would have enough to cover the better
protocol but still LN2 storage, or at any rate, it would be easier to
upgrade to this option if it became available. I also agree with Thomas

Donaldson that the actual cost of any new procedureshould be estimated directly.

Mike Perry

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