Cryopreservation and Lifespan Extension

This second volume of the Applied Human Cryobiology series contains presentations on the second German scientific symposium 2014 in Dresden as well as contributions of outstanding scientists in cryonics. Included are laudations to the awardees of the Robert Ettinger Medal. The brain as the only totally individualized human organ cannot be replaced (e.g. by cloning or stem cells). Therefore analyses of brain structure as well as studies in the postmortem stability of this organ are crucial for methods of vitrification and the rewarming of cryonics patients. Other organs and organisms are useful models for the development and testing of cryopreservation methods. These require strategies for the control and prevention of cryopreservation damage as well as damage caused by dying. New technologies can help to achieve these aims. An important field of research in this context is molecular repair. The further development of cryonics needs self-control, e.g. by analysis of its historical development and actual progress. Cryonics represents a method of life span extension and can be supported by other methods favoring longevity. This volume demonstrates that substantial progress has been made in all of these fields of research as well as in the application of the results of this research.

Prof. Dr. Klaus H. Sames was born in Kassel, Germany, in 1939. He worked as a physician and anatomist for four decades in research on the extension of the human life span. He was the first university teacher in experimental biological gerontology in Germany. Sames works as a scientific adviser for Cryonics Institute (Clinton Township, Michigan) and is an honorary member of the German Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics (Berlin). He has been founder and first chairman of the German Society of Applied Biostasis (DGAB) and had been elected honorary chairman of this society. He was also founder and trainer of the German cryonics medical intervention team and initiator of an award medal for outstanding merits in the field of cryonics as well as of scientific symposia on biostasis and cryonics. The Ulm Cryonics Project has been founded by Sames as well and he still serves as its first chairman. He favors research in cryopreservation of transplant organs. He has helped with the cryopreservation of several European patients by Cryonics Institute.