A challenge against the unknown is that of the company Tomorrow Biostatis, founded in 2019 by German doctor Emil Kendziorra and which aims to bring people back to life. In Rafz, a town of around 4000 inhabitants in the canton of Zurich, there is a clinic where it is possible to cryopreserve one’s own body with the aim of reaching ‘the future’.
The German doctor has an ambitious project, to preserve the bodies of recently deceased people in a state of stasis, in order to resurrect them in the future. The founder has stated that the goal is to build a world in which people can decide the length of their lives, regardless of their resources.
How it works
In order to hibernate a body, strict rules must be followed. The person must be recently deceased and no more than one hour must pass to avoid cell death. The company uses a special ambulance to transport the body, performing chest compressions and administering oxygen via a breathing mask before temporarily immersing the corpse in ice. A crucial role in cryopreservation is played by liquid nitrogen, which maintains the necessary temperatures at -196° Celsius. The bodies are stored in insulated tanks at the European Biostasis Foundation (EBF).
Costs
The cost for the preservation of the entire body is around 200,000 euros, while cryopreservation of the brain alone costs about 60,000 euros. Currently, there are about 5,000 people on the waiting list to access this practice, with 377 bodies already hibernated worldwide.
Cryogenisation has had many developments over the years, it is an established practice for sperm, eggs or embryos but the fact remains that the whole human body has its own complexity and its reanimation after cryopreservation is not yet possible. Emil Kendziorra stated that there is no time limit to cryopreservation without degradation, but the return to life remains a future challenge still without certain answers.