The ultimate ambition is to achieve reversible whole-body cryopreservation, effectively pausing disease progression for patients with currently incurable conditions. This would allow them to be 'hibernated' until a cure is developed, fundamentally altering the paradigm of terminal illness.
Until is focusing its near-term efforts on cryopreserving single human organs. This addresses the massive logistical and medical challenges of the current transplant system, where time is the enemy, by creating a potential 'bank' of organs that are not subject to immediate decay.
The central technical problem in cryopreservation is avoiding the formation of ice crystals, which destroy cell structures. The solution is vitrification, a process of cooling tissue so rapidly that water molecules lock in place like glass, which requires a careful balance of cryoprotectant chemicals and advanced cooling/rewarming hardware.
Laura Deming emphasizes that cryopreservation is not purely a biological problem. Advances in engineering—such as creating devices for faster, more uniform cooling and rewarming—can significantly reduce the biological challenge by lowering the required concentration of toxic cryoprotectant chemicals.
Keep pulling the thread on Laura Deming.