In Germany, this first European start-up wants to wake up the dead
Tomorrow Biostasis is a Berlin startup developing human cryopreservation so that future medical technology may revive people and treat their underlying cause of death.
The young company already claims a dozen frozen guinea pigs and a waiting list as long as the arm. “When technological advances allow,” it promises to offer them “life extension.”
They would be hundreds on the waiting list. That’s what German start-up Tomorrow Biostasis is claiming, promising to be able to resurrect the dead.
A dozen bodies are already stored in a cryopreservation laboratory – a story worthy of a science fiction movie, as the very serious American magazine “Popular Mechanics” tells.
Emil Kendziorra, the co-founder of the start-up, is working hard to roll out the first company in the sector in Europe.
According to Popular Mechanics, there are already a few in the United States, like The Alcor Life Extension Foundation and The Cryonics Institute.
The objective of Tomorrow Biostasis is to intervene as soon as possible after the death of an individual to preserve the body and/or the brain of this person in a state of stasis, a form of profound sleep during which the vital functions are slowed down to a minimum.
Then, “when technological advances permit,” Tomorrow Biostasis will “treat and reverse the initial cause of the person’s death and bring them back from the dead to enjoy a prolonged life.”
“At least that’s the plan,” the reporter laughs.
ENSURING THE PROPER PRESERVATION OF BODIES
According to Emil Kendziorra, the typical customer is 36 years old and works (unsurprisingly) in the tech sector, the magazine ironizes.
Some want to preserve their brains, thinking that “their future self” might prefer a new 3D-printed body… or maybe nobody at all.
Unlike conventional startups, Tomorrow Biostasis works with two interconnected organizations:
The Tomorrow Patient Foundation (TBF) is a Swiss non-profit private benefit organization that is the legal guardian of the cryopreserved patient.
As well as being a research body, the European Biostasis Foundation provides the facility for long-term care for patients in Rafz, Switzerland.
Upon arrival, patients are cooled to -196 degrees celsius and placed in dewars filled with liquid nitrogen to maintain cryopreservation.
To make it legal, the process is technically considered a gift to science.
“Of course, waiting for medical advances to reverse the cause of your death is not the only obstacle to this concept.
There’s still that small but significant problem: no one knows how to revive a person who has been cryopreserved,” puts “Popular Mechanics” into perspective.
Although cell and tissue preservation is already practiced, no one has succeeded in bringing a deceased person back to life with standard functions and memories.
Another question remains unanswered: who will make the decision, and when, to wake up the guinea pig?
This article was drafted with automated assistance and reviewed before publication. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief