CHALLENGE
Cryopreservation of Organs
$1 MILLION (Prize amount to be confirmed. Announcement expected for next year)
Cryopreservtion is a process where organelles, cells, tissues, organs or any other biological constructs susceptible of damage caused by unregulated chemical kinetics are preserved by cooling at extreme low temperatures (-80 to -196 C) depending on type of gas being utilized.
During the last decades scientists around the world have proven the capability of successfully cryopreserve sêmen, blood, embryos, stem cells and other small cell samples.
For medical practice it would be essential to have available organs from transplants.
Currently organs are donated from clinically dead people amd require a complicated logistics and proper timing for being useful.
Even when viable , the organ recipient is required to the immune suppression drugs for the rest of his life to avoid organ rejection. Successful preservation of entire human organs will reduce the cost of organ replacement and help the more than 100.000 patients currently on waiting lists for organ donation. The viable replacement of human organs would help postpone more than 30% of all death in the US and a still bigger number around the world.
It would also raises the human average longevity.
