Biostasis Newsletter October 2023
Biostasis 2023 Workshops, Apex Neuroscience, and Brain Preservation
Biostasis 2023 Workshops
On October 14, 2023 Biostasis Technologies President Aschwin de Wolf spoke at a European Biostasis Foundation meeting at their facility in Rafz about real-time and post-case metrics. Topics covered include the benefits and limitations of the S-MIX, new cooling techniques, and how to understand CT scan results. You can watch the complete presentation here.
Apex Neuroscience
Oregon Cryonics is gradually transforming into two new entities. Apex Neuroscience will be a non-profit research organization that aims to perfect brain preservation with an emphasis on chemical fixation of the (isolated) brain. The transition of Oregon Cryonics from a “conventional” cryonics organization to an organization mostly focused on chemical fixation of brains leads to another future rebranding in the form of Oregon Brain Preservation. The Oregon Cryonics forum is still active and Oregon Cryonics founder Jordan Sparks is an active contributor himself, offering observations about Alcor’s new business strategies or scaling up connectomics.
Immersion Vitrifixation
The announcement of (near)perfect brain preservation using aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation (ASC) prompted some insiders to write off “traditional cryonics” as a relic of the past. However, the strong public association between this “100% fatal” procedure and “mind uploading” yielded more controversy than this young field may have been anticipating.
In addition, the number one obstacle that prevents optimal case outcomes in cryonics (ischemia-induced no-reflow in the brain) is just as much of a problem for aldehyde fixation. Some people hypothesize that the crosslinking of chemical fixatives with blood may present an even more formidable obstacle in perfusion fixation. This raises the question how to implement procedures that include chemical fixation under realistic conditions.
One approach that most likely will yield complete chemical fixation and cryoprotection of the brain is to immerse the isolated brain in fixative, followed by stepwise loading of a cryoprotectant, a procedure coined “immersion vitrifixation” (or iVitrifixation) by Aschwin de Wolf at recent conference presentations. At this point, scientific and practical data about this procedure is scattered, conflicting, and scarce. The most fundamental question is whether fixative penetration of the isolated brain can be fast enough to outrun ischemic damage in areas of the brain that cannot not be reached through perfusion fixation.
As things stand right now, individuals and entities that advocate a stronger role for chemical fixation in biostasis protocols are increasingly concerned with the practical aspects of these procedures. Some advocates may still confine themselves to optimizing procedures for “ideal” cases where chemical fixation would be an elective hospital-based procedure, but others are now moving towards researching protocols that work in a world where no form of medical biostasis is expected to yield large public support yet.
One thing that is clear is that the larger biostasis field is gradually moving away from “neuro-preservation” to brain-only preservation as the low-cost and PR-friendly option, as also evidenced by Tomorrow Biostasis now offering a brain-only option.
Liquid Ventilation Testing
Preliminary cadaver studies to test new liquid ventilation prototypes are currently underway. These tests will not just include operation and efficacy of the liquid ventilation equipment, but also investigate alternative cooling mediums (like chilled saline), compatibility with different mechanical CPR devices, and the effects of alternative methods of airway access such as tracheotomies.
Getting to 250 Subscribers!
The Biostasis Standard now has 200 subscribers! Please help us get to 250 subscribers before the end of this year by promoting our work to other cryonicists and interested colleagues and family members. Almost all of our writings remain free, but we want to thank again those who are paid subscribers. It means a lot to us.