Are you sitting down…? Nectome — a Y Combinator Winter 2018 alum — has figured out how to preserve an entire mammalian brain with its cellular structure locked in place and minimal damage. (I mean, it’s a pig brain, specifically. But that’s probably more capable than my brain.) And it’s been frozen in a way that preserves every neuron and synapse. And they want to offer the same procedure to people who are terminally ill. So then they can wire those brains up to the Internet. For never ending oinking. Or maybe so Nic Cage would always have a friend.
What’s that…? Oh. Yeah. Good point. I guess it would be slightly more interesting if it were human brains.
From New Scientist:
An entire mammalian brain has been successfully preserved using a technique that will now be offered to people who are terminally ill. The intention is to preserve all the neural information thought necessary to one day reconstruct the mind of the person it once belonged to.
The technique is called “aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation.” (I know. It just rolls off the tongue.) Within about a minute of cardiac arrest, preservation chemicals are introduced that lock the brain’s cellular activity in place. This isn’t just innovative. It’s award winning. The one minor drawback being that you have to die to make it work.
So what’s the Portland angle…? It’s actually a Vancouver, Washington, angle. Nectome’s founder, Aurelia Song — who previously won the Brain Preservation Foundation‘s Large Mammal Prize for preserving a pig brain while at 21st Century Medicine and then started Nectome to take the work further — lives in Vancouver. As does Nectome’s Chief Scientist Borys Wróbel.
I know. It’s a lot. And it raises questions that are way way above my pay grade. But a company doing some of the most ambitious neuroscience research on the planet is right here in our backyard. And for a good reason. Oregon and Washington are among a handful of states where the whole “you have to die first” is legal. I mean, you can die whenever you want. But if you want help, Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act makes the state one of the few places where their preservation protocol — which works in conjunction with physician-assisted death — can actually be offered.
So see…? Sometimes our laws provide actual opportunities for startups and innovation. Rather than squelching them.
For more information, visit nectome.com.
(h/t Dylan Boyd)
