Cryonics UK Exposition with Saul Kent and Catherine Baldwin

I had posted this, in advance:

Cryonics UK European Exposition
with Saul Kent + Catherine Baldwin
Thursday, September 23, 2010 • 12:00pm - 6:00pm, Sheffield • function room at the Sheffield Park Hotel

Cryonics UK exposition / European workshop with some very noteworthy guests from America who wish to meet as many cryonicists (especially Europeans) as possible at this event.

Catherine Baldwin (General Manager, Suspended Animation, Inc.) and Saul Kent (CEO, Suspended Animation, Inc.; Director, Alcor; Co-Founder, Cryonics Society of New York; Co-Founder, Life Extension Foundation; Co-Founder and Director, 21st Century Medicine; Co-Founder and Director, BioMarker Pharmaceuticals; Co-Founder, Timeship Project) will be in attendance, and are looking forward to meeting as many European cryonicists as possible while here.

On this day, we will mostly not be at our usual location, our HQ, but nearby in a hired function room at the Sheffield Park Hotel, a pleasant four star venue around the corner from our HQ. The day will however also include a brief tour of our HQ.

The purpose of the event is severalfold; to allow European cryonicists to meet and ask questions of Saul and Catherine, and also to allow Saul and Catherine to get to know a little better what we do over here and how we do it.

To this end, there will be open discussion time, some short structured presentations (Cryonics UK training, Cryonics in Europe, etc), a tour of our clinic and ambulance, and some social element too.

Attendance is free of charge, as the costs of the event (venue and catering) will be paid by kind sponsorship from Suspended Animation Inc.

If you would kindly let me know if you'd like to attend, that would help me greatly in terms of logistics! My email address is ds@cryonics-uk.com – Many thanks.

Warm regards,

Eternally,

David Styles (Organiser)
+44 7706 149 771

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The day was pleasant and successful.

I gave a presentation on the topic of CUK, and a presentation on the topic of EUCRIO. A video of CUK training was shown, tours were given of the CUK clinic, bulky equipment storage space, and ambulance. There was a CUK equipment show-and-tell.

Many small peripheral meetings were made; some purely social, and some quite productive.

We were joined by people from England, Scotland, Wales, France, Poland, Finland, and America. Apologies if I missed any countries out; I am writing this somewhat after the fact, and will simply change the date to cause this post to appear in the correct part of the blog.

On a note of light entertainment, a chef obsessed with the hope of discovering that cryonics is a financial scam hired a young man to come and spy on us. The fellow in question dutifully reported that I seem to be a nice fellow, and am not a slick salesman at all, and that there were no attempts whatsoever to sell anything to him.

Of course, this didn't deter the obsessed chef, but I guess his epistemology is much like that of "Creationist Science", in which evidence is only worth considering when it fits the result you hope to find. And if there is no evidence, then make imaginative guesses and then hold them as beliefs.

EUCRIO presentation at Cryonics Institute AGM.

I made a presentation regarding EUCRIO at this year's AGM of the Cryonics Institute.

My presentation was well-received, and I received many well-wishes, and enquiries regarding EUCRIO's services.

I also made some useful new connections, enjoyed spending some time with some old friends, and benefited from other people's presentations at the AGM.

Of particular interest to me was the research update from Aschwin and Chana de Wolf, of Advanced Neural Biosciences Inc, regarding the effects of various perfusates on warm and cold ischemia (they have been rat brain perfusion studies).

CI's 100th Patient

CI’s 100th patient was brought to the facility by his son.

I accompanied CI President Ben Best in preparing the cooling equipment, that is to say allowing liquid nitrogen access to the enclosed space where liquid nitrogen is sprayed over the patient (who is protected by a thermally insulated sleeping bag). During the preparation stage, liquid nitrogen is sprayed through the space the patient will soon be occupying. The temperature is carefully continuously monitored throughout this process, and also throughout the later cool-down of the patient.

The son brought the patient in; the patient had been cooled already to below -83˚C, and was now lying in a body bag in a Ziegler container, the space between the two being filled with many blocks of dry ice. The son had stopped on the way up to pick up more, to guard against the sublimation of dry ice compromising his father’s safety. The Ziegler container itself was insulated by thick foam blocks that had been fastened around it.

Upon arrival, we removed the outer casing of foam and the lid of the Ziegler container, and took out as much of the dry ice as possible without moving the patient. We then transferred the container to a fork lift truck, and from the fork lift truck to the ground.

A back-board with an insulated sleeping bag on it was produced, and we set about the task of transferring the patient from the container into the sleeping bag. To do this, we first took out as much of the remaining dry ice as possible (although we had removed all the blocks already, there were very many small pieces between the patient’s body and the bottom edges of the Ziegler container), and then adjusted his position along the horizontal plane, so as to ensure he was in no manner attached to the base of the container, before lifting him out, which was accomplished by inclining the container somewhat and transferring him manually to the sleeping bag. We then zipped the sleeping bag up, and placed some dry ice around the patient’s head while Andy (CI Facility Manager Andy Zawacki) ran a cord in a criss-cross fashion around the sleeping bag and back-board, once they had been placed on a gurney.

We then wheeled the patient around to the cooling apparatus, from which position he was lifted by winch, and then lowered into place, for the lengthy process that would be his cool-down from dry ice temperatures, to liquid nitrogen temperatures, before being placed in an LN2 cryostat.

Congratulations to Marta Sandberg

CI Director Marta Sandberg was re-elected on this day, winning first place in the election with a strong majority of votes.

My hearty congratulations to her. A good woman doing a good job.

EUCRIO is hiring.

In the following countries:

Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom

The following positions are being filled:

(Note: "the country in which operating" is assumed to be your own country. If you are prepared to travel, at the company's expense, to nearby countries if requested, then the same language requirements will apply to the country in which you are agreeing to work)

Team Leader

You will manage a private paramedical terminal care support team, which will include standing by in a hospital, and when required to provide care, ensure that the company's protocol is followed. Leadership ability is essential; a background in medical or paramedical services is ideal but not required as full training will be given. You must be able to fluently speak the language of country in which operating and English. Work will be "as required", with assignments given at short notice, and pay will be a daily rate plus travel and accommodation expenses. Ideal as supplemental work for an existing or former team manager of any field.

Team Post-Mortem Surgeon

You will work as part of a private paramedical terminal care support team, which will include standing by in a hospital, and when required to provide care, you will raise and encannulate the carotid arteries in a post-mortem patient. Other similar surgical duties may occasionally be required as the case demands, for example occasionally femoral encannulation will be requested instead of carotid. To this end, a surgical background is essential. It is essential that you have the ability to fluently speak either the language of country in which operating or English (preferably both). Work will be "as required", with assignments given at short notice, and pay will be a daily rate, open to negotiation, plus travel and accommodation expenses. Ideal as supplemental work for an existing or former surgeon, mortician, or embalmer.

Team Perfusionist

You will work as part of a private paramedical terminal care support team, which will include standing by in a hospital, and when required to provide care, you will perfuse the post-mortem patient in the manner prescribed by the company's protocol. Full training in the company's protocol, and the use of the company's equipment and perfusates, will be given, but you should have a background in perfusion, embalming, or a closely related field. It is essential that you have the ability to fluently speak either the language of country in which operating or English (preferably both). Work will be "as required", with assignments given at short notice, and pay will be a daily rate, open to negotiation, plus travel and accommodation expenses. Ideal as supplemental work for an existing or former perfusionist or embalmer.

Team Medic

You will work as part of a private paramedical terminal care support team, which will include standing by in a hospital, and when required to provide care, you will administer medications in the manner prescribed by the company's protocol (this will include IV lines, intra-osseous infusion, and oesophageal insertions). Full training in the company's protocol, and the use of the company's equipment and medications, will be given, but you should have a background in the administration of medicines. It is essential that you have the ability to fluently speak either the language of country in which operating or English (preferably both). Work will be "as required", with assignments given at short notice, and pay will be a daily rate plus travel and accommodation expenses. Ideal as supplemental work for an existing or former paramedic or nurse.

Team Recorder (Audio-Visual)

You will work as part of a private paramedical terminal care support team, which will include standing by in a hospital, and when required to provide services, you will record the proceedings by means of audio-visual recording. This will be for quality assurance purposes, and not for publication. It is essential that you have the ability to fluently speak either the language of country in which operating or English (preferably both). Work will be "as required", with assignments given at short notice, and pay will be a daily rate plus travel and accommodation expenses. Ideal as supplemental work for an existing or former documentary film-maker or camera operator.


Team Recorder (Photographer)

You will work as part of a private paramedical terminal care support team, which will include standing by in a hospital, and when required to provide services, you will record the proceedings by means of still photography. This will be for quality assurance purposes, and not for publication. It is essential that you have the ability to fluently speak either the language of country in which operating or English (preferably both). Work will be "as required", with assignments given at short notice, and pay will be a daily rate plus travel and accommodation expenses. Ideal as supplemental work for an existing or former documentary photographer.

Lawyer (Consultant)

You will be available for periodic consultations regarding the law of your country of operation and its effect on all areas of our business. You will be able to speak English and the language of the country in which you are operating. You will have a background that includes one or more of the following: international law, conflict of laws, European Union law, contract law, tort law (experience with this latter field in the context of medical and/or mortuary practice will be especially useful). Consultations will be as required, and fees will be negotiable.

To apply for any of the above, please express your interest by emailing your CV / resumé and a short covering letter to david@eucrio.eu to arrange an interview.

Cryonics UK Training with Ben Best

Time is short and this weekend had a lot of content, so rather than report at length, I'll direct you to Ben Best's account of this Cryonics UK training weekend, as published in Long Life magazine:

http://www.cryonics.org/immortalist/september10/CUK_training.pdf

Society for Cryobiology Annual Conference

This was, incidentally, the first public representation of EUCRIO by my good self.

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Time is short and this conference was long, so I'm going to talk about one particular presentation I enjoyed seeing.

Specifically, regarding cryopreparation techniques used for transmission microscopy, which include chemical fixing followed by slicing into 150+/-50nm slices.

Logically this bodes well for the plans of the Brain Preservation Society, though results have included cells horribly lysed in some samples as well as cells preserved intact, albeit in parts internally damaged. If the purpose is to create a map (as in the transmission electron microscopy, such as could be used for keeping a record of the brain) rather than restore the cell to viability (as in cryonics), this is just fine.

I would draw a parallel to someone who has suffered brain damage due to oxygen starvation; the cells aren't properly functional, but still there and in tact.

I realise this is a somewhat tenuous analogy since the cells in a brain-damaged patient are viable whereas the fixed and sliced cells now frozen are not, this is irrelevant if the object is to record, rather than directly restore.

The upshot of all this (my conclusion, not that of the speaker) is that whole brain emulation could mean that someone's recorded brain could conceivably have its data "fed into" an artificially created brain (be it cloned, bioprinted, or even non-biological) and jump-started top effectively boot up the having-been-preserved person's mind (with the assumption of the validity of the premise of anatomical basis of mind, such that the mind is a function of the information communication in the brain).