Charles Platt (recently "retired" general manager of Suspended Animation) gave the first presentation on Saturday morning. He said that without circulation brain cells run out of oxygen in only ten seconds, but are able to maintain long-term viability through anaerobic metabolism for up to ten minutes without interventions. He quoted from a study from the Australasian Society of Cardiovascular Perfusionists which found that the ten minutes at 37ºC (body temperature) equates with 30 minutes at 28ºC and 60 minutes at 18ºC. The moral of the story is that cryonics patients should be cooled as quickly as possible. Running the blood through a heat exchanger and liquid ventilation with cold perfluorocarbon are prime candidates for rapid cooling.

Appropriately physician Steve Harris (Critical Care Medicine Scientific Director) spoke next, describing his research in liquid ventilation cooling. Perfluorocarbons are typically 8-10 carbon alkanes saturated with fluorine rather than hydrogen atoms. These liquids look like water, but are nearly twice the density. A goldfish could as easily swim in perfluorocarbon as in water because it has the same oxygen carrying capacity as water. But the density of the perfluorocarbon would make the goldfish pop to the surface.

The lungs are as good at heat exchange as they are at gas exchange, which is why cold perfluorocarbons in the lungs can cool the body at least as rapidly as external cooling with ice water (when blood is circulating). The challenge is to circulate perfluorocarbons in and out of the lungs and to keep the fluid cool with a heat exchanger.

Steve then joined a panel which included Alcor COO Tanya Jones and Suspended Animation's Aschwin de Wolf. Tanya discussed work on a dry shipper so that Alcor patients could be shipped at liquid nitrogen temperature, but it was not clear to me whether she was talking about neuros or whole bodies. I believe it was Aschwin who raised the subject of intraosseous perfusion, which is increasingly displacing venous perfusion in emergency medicine. It seems that the bones drain into veins and that injection into bone is easier and safer than injection into veins. Alcor is already using intraosseous perfusion. Steve said a few words about hypothermic research. There are only a few dog labs left in the United States and Critical Care Research (CCR) is one of them. It is only permissible to use a dog in one experiment. People interested in getting a dog that has been an experimental subject should contact CCR. The hypothermic dog work begun at CryoVita (predecessor to CCR) is still unequaled in scientific literature. The research was rejected for publication by the Society for Cryobiology in 1994 because it had been done by cryonicists -- not on scientific grounds ("ethical considerations"). Steve said that these and subsequent studies must be published elsewhere, but it is unclear to me when or how this will happen.

Greg Fahy discussed his vitrification work and related topics. He described experiments extending Dr. Pichugin's hippocampal slice work in which slices that had been vitrified demonstrated electrophysiological activity in addition to potassium/sodium measures of viablility.

A topic relevant to CI is Greg's comment that ice blocker does not slow flow rate in the kidney. Dr. Pichugin is pleased with the low viscosity of his vitrification mixture that is achieved by excluding ice blockers and other large molecules.

Dr. Fahy said that a few years ago his lab had experimented with opening the blood brain barrier to give M22 cryoprotectant better access to brain tissue. Unfortunately, electron micrographs show- ed that the brain tissue was being destroyed, which soured his interest in blood brain barrier opening. This is quite relevant to CI because opening the blood brain barrier is the major focus of Dr. Pichugin's current research and because we lack the ability to make electron micrographs. Nonetheless, Greg gave no indication of knowing the mechanism by which brain tissue would be so damaged in his experiments.

Dr. Fahy also commented on the ugly electron micrographs of brain tissue subjected to 24 hours of cold ischemia. This would be an argument for field vitrification and shipment to the cryonics facility at liquid nitrogen temperature in a dry shipper. It is also an argument for terminal cryonics patients deanimating near to their cryonics facility.

Brian Wowk noted that liquid nitrogen vapor temperature drops gradually with height above liquid nitrogen. Intermediate temperature storage to eliminate cracking from thermal stress can be achieved by storing in a container that is held a constant distance above the liquid.
Temperature uniformity within the container can be achieved by insulating the container while having a layer of highly conductive metal inside. A few watts of electricity can increase temperature uniformity even more. If the battery fails for some reason, the worst that happens is a slight loss of temperature uniformity.

Brian also spoke of temperatures of maximum ice crystal growth and maximum nucleation. Formation of ice crystal nuclei is maximal near glass transition temperature. Ice crystal growth is maximal at higher temperatures. Between these temperatures there is a "safe zone" in which there is neither nucleation nor ice crystal growth. For M22 this safe zone is near dry ice temperature -- which raises the possibility of vitrifying a cryonics patient and shipping at dry ice temperature.

Dr. Pichugin has argued that it is safe to ship vitrified CI patients in dry ice if they have been vitrified with CI-VM-1. I have been worried about devitrification (which is as bad as straight freezing) and have been wanting better proof that dry ice temperature is truly safe for shipment. Now I am more inclined to allow overseas dry ice shipment of vitrified CI patients. I discussed this with Philip Rhoades and Gunter Boden. I also phoned Dr. Klaus Sames after the conference to discuss the matter with him. It may be quite technically challenging for an overseas group to be able to vitrify a cryonics patient

I cannot say much about the afternoon sessions. The only sentence in my notebook for the afternoon is Saul Kent's remark "Everything takes longer than expected except aging". Charles Platt reported on Suspended Animation. Among other things he explained the $15,000 Autopulse CPR unit they had purchased and how they had re-engineered the unit for waterproof application in a portable ice bath.

I was a participant in both of the two panels that followed and was mostly preoccupied with my own presentations. I found it difficult to follow the presentations of the others because their slides were projected backwards on a screen in front of the panel.

My presentation about CI focused on technical developments in the past year concerning perfusion, CI-VM-1 disclosure and cooling box software. I explained why I had given-up on the feasibility of body perfusions following brain vitrification, but in the question period Florida CI Member Fred Ringel still wanted to know when CI would be offering body vitrification. More emphatically I expressed my belief that any body perfusion with existing cryoprotectants necessarily compromises the brain. I also don't see the necessity of vitrifying kidney, liver, panceas, etc. when future technology will be generating organs superior to the ones we currently have. I should have added that CI Members may have access to whole body vitrification when and if Suspended Animation develops this capability

Saul Kent asked me what plans CI has for intermediate temperature storage. I answered that we will probably get it eventually, but there is no immediate plan. I added that I have never heard a CI Member express an interest in having intermediate temperature storage and have doubts that enough CI Members would be willing to pay for it in the near future. Saul suggested that CI Members may not be informed of the possible benefits.

I cannot remember much of anything of what Steve van Sickle said about Alcor or of what Jim Yount said about the American Cryonics Society. Except that Jim Yount spent a great deal of time covering the history of ACS from the beginning.

The following panel on wealth preservation included presentations by Rudi Hoffman, Tanya Jones, Saul Kent and me. Tanya filled-in for Michael Riskin, as she had done when Michael missed the October Alcor Conference due to illness.

The first half of my presentation covered issues with perpetual trusts and my experience in developing such trusts as CryoCare Secretary. In the second half of my presentation I emphasized that there can be no future wealth without survival, and that present wealth should be used primarily to ensure survival. Saul described his own trust which includes unusual plans for dealing with the problem of failed reanimation attempts. The reanimated Saul Kents would have an appeal process in which they had to prove that they were the "real Saul". I was unclear about how there could be multiple Saul Kents reanimated and asked if the original was only being used as a template. Saul was not clear on this issue himself.

The banquet afforded more valuable opportunity for personal interaction, but nothing I will discuss. Greg Fahy's banquet speech was a stunning announcement that the Life Extension Foundation is giving 21st Century Medicine more gobs of money. To do research on whole body vitrification 21st Century Medicine is buying a huge building much larger than and in addition to their existing facility. Greg is enthusiastic about the prospect of being able to do work that has the potential to interest mainstream medicine. Whole body vitrification has the potential to lead to true suspended animation through cryopreservation. The Sunday tours of the Suspended Animation Facility provided more time for interesting personal interactions. A German TV crew spent many hours lurking in the parking lot in front of the facility, giving some people a creepy feeling. The same crew had spent a few hours filming at the CI Facility a number of weeks before. I had suggested that they film the conference. They were initially given permission to film, but this permission was later withdrawn -- apparently on the belief that they are anti-cryonics. After spending a number of hours in the facility I walked out into the parking lot and chatted with them for a few minutes. They all gave me a very friendly greeting and the one who spoke good English explained that there must have been some misunderstanding. I am still unclear exactly what happened.

The tour consisted mainly of four "stations" where Suspended Animation people explained and demonstrated. In one of the rooms Aschwin de Wolf explained each of the medications on display. In another room Charles Platt explained their liquid ventilation apparatus. Mike Quinn demonstrated the ACDC thumper on a simulated patient in a portable ice bath. Gary Battiato demonstrated the vans, the cooling box and the foldability of portable ice baths. He had two assistants. I was quite impressed with the Suspended Animation cooling box, which was completely designed by Charles. He had the advantage of building the unit from scratch, whereas the CI cooling box was adapted from a shipping box. Their unit is more compact and has two liquid nitrogen spray bars and two powerful fans to concentrate cooling on the patient. The unit is built mainly of wood and insulating material. This allowed for rapid construction and testing. Another model is to be built with aluminum. A big bag containing fluid developed by 21st Century Medicine is used for cooling. The fluid is 60% ethylene glycol, 25% water and 5% hydroxyethyl cellulose.

The liquid ventilation system was largely designed by Charles with the assistance of Steve Harris. Unfortunately it seems that pumping cold perfluorocarbon into and out of a cryonics patient is partly science and partly art. It seems that Steve Harris is a master of the art and that this mastery has not been automated. Consequently it is uncertain when Suspended Animation will be able to apply liquid ventilation to a cryonics patient.

After the demonstrations there was a buffet lunch and lots of time for personal interaction. Aschwin (and to a lesser extent Charles) was extremely helpful in personally showing me (and demonstrating the use of) various items of Suspended Animation equipment. Mike Darwin spent a great deal of time talking about his years of cryonics experience and current insights. It was the first occasion in which Mike had ever spoken with Steve van Sickle. Mike was quite critical of the Autopulse and he gave me a soft copy of a study indicating that manual CPR results in cerebral performance in hospital discharge patients that is more than twice that produced by the Autopulse [JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION; Hallstrom,A; 295(22):2630-2628 (2006)]. Others at CCR and SA do not have such a negative evaluation of the Autopulse.