The Kidney Connection
If you’ve been following our content, you’ve probably noticed we mention kidney experiments quite a bit. I’ve gotten multiple members asking me the same question: why are we focusing on kidneys when what cryonicists really care about is the brain? Fair question – here’s why this type of research is crucial for our goals.
It’s About Validation: One of the best test of any preservation protocol is whether the organ actually works after cryopreservation and thawing. With kidneys, we can do transplants to prove functionality. You can’t transplant a brain (yet), so kidneys give us the gold standard for testing our methods.
Perfect Starting Point: Kidneys have remarkably simple vascular architecture – one artery going in, one vein coming out. Compared to organs with multiple arteries, it’s a much simpler system to perfuse and cryoprotect. They also have challenging internal regions that are harder to preserve, making them an excellent testing ground for our techniques.
Size Matters: Other research groups work with mouse, rat, and rabbit kidneys, which are tiny. We’re using pig kidneys, which are human-sized. No one has ever successfully cryopreserved, thawed, and transplanted a human-sized organ. If we crack that, it’s a massive step for both cryonics and medicine in general – imagine being able to bank organs for transplant instead of the current system where kidneys must be transplanted within 24-36 hours or they’re lost forever.
The Logic: If you can’t successfully restore a preserved kidney, you can’t preserve a whole organism. Every organ presents different challenges, but we’re starting with the most straightforward one and working our way up to more complex organs like liver, lungs, heart, and yes, brain.
We’re Not Ignoring Brains: The research team is actually working on brain tissue experiments in parallel. But the kidney work gives us publishable, credible results that provide both experience and legitimacy to Alcor while we develop protocols that apply across organ systems.
The bottom line: Better organ preservation research leads to better member outcomes. If you’d like to accelerate this work, please consider a donation to support our science. We’re working on multiple fronts simultaneously – kidney research that advances the field while building toward our aspirational goals.
Why Organ Preservation Matters