Stephen died more than a decade ago, but his friend Greg believes the biogerontologist can be “revived”.
After being declared legally dead in 2014, L. Stephen Coles’ brain was subjected to a cryopreservation and stored in Arizona, in the United States, at a temperature of around -146 °C. The biological material remained intact in storage throughout this time, isolated from the outside world and subject to conservation protocols using cryoprotective chemicals.
Recently, fragments of his brain were thawed for analysis by Greg Fahy, a close friend of Coles and an expert in cryobiology, who performed a biopsy of the preserved tissues and was highly surprised by the “surprisingly good” state of conservation, he confessed to .
Coles’ objective in authorizing the preservation of his brain was not for possible future reanimation, but rather for his case to help understand whether cryopreservation causes irreversible structural damage, such as fissures or severe cellular degradation — a phenomenon known as “cracking” and often observed in tissues frozen at extreme temperatures, explains .
Preliminary results from a yet-to-be peer-reviewed study suggest that, despite not being damage-free, the tissue maintained a more preserved structure than expected. The use of cryoprotective chemical solutions and strict temperature control appear to have significantly reduced cell degradation.
The scientific community remains highly divided. In reaction to the “thawing”, researcher John Bischof, from the University of Minnesota, reminds the public that the analyzed brain “not alive”.
