The word cryobiology is derived from the Greek words 'cryo' meaning 'cold', 'bios' meaning 'life' and 'logos' meaning 'study of' or 'science'.
Today cryobiology is a tangible branch of biology that studies the effects of living things in extreme below freezing temperatures.
Behind the frozen veneer of cryobiology life extension innovation
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There are many distinctions in the cryo-science practice and the freezing of non-living matter, but in cryobiology the main focus is in the study of preserving life in biological matter including proteins, cells, tissues, organs and organisms in their entirety.
The freezing temperatures in cryo-science may range from very cold, sub zero, hypothermic conditions to extreme temperatures of –300 °C.
As a result of the below freezing temperature measurement studies, scientists created a new temperature scale from the commonly known Fahrenheit and Celsius, which they call the Kelvin and Rankine scales: whereas –300 °C or –508 °F translates to -27 K (conversion calculator)
The field of research in cryobiology techniques, evolved procedures and emerging technologies is primarily focused on trying to achieve cryopreservation suspension and reanimation. In recent years, with support of emergency medicine, the basis that cryobiology may surpass organ transplantation and may have the ability to increase the length of a life may be slowly becoming a reality. However, behind the frozen veneer of life extension innovation lies the very cause of the opposition. The progressing cryobiology research of cheating death and extending the human lifeline is also the same reason for fueling a heated ethical debate with a strong opposition on the morality of cryo-science.
Many medical procedures today would not even be possible if it had not been for cryobiology. The newly evolved medical procedures in the cryobiology field have been successful in treating certain skin tissues from lesions, sustaining cell life and also improved quality of life with various new cryosurgery transplantation processes. Thus in essence, cryobiology is in fact already extending life. The ability to lengthen a person's life allowed many groups to surface as societies pursuing, funding and supporting cryonic suspension of humans. However, the belief that the length of life should not be tampered triggered other opposing parties hindering the research and the science of cryobiology altogether.
In addition to the ethics of meddling with mother nature and as cryobiology is being further explored, the complications of these processes are also becoming well known. Another supporting argument from the opposition to the science that is starting to surface is that any type of cryobiological procedure affects the cells and the surrounding areas causing, in many cases, extensive irreversible damage. In cryosurgery, the reported damage is almost equal to the success of the treatment for the problem. This damage on the cellular level can cause future problems that will require treatment producing a cryo-dependency cycle for the patient.
Damage may also occur in cryopreservation suspension where defects have been known to be caused by implications; the exact underlined cause is still unknown to the science. The cost of most cryobiological procedures is still very expensive and unless a payment plan similar to life insurance can be implemented, the price tag for prolonging one's life with cryobiology is too expensive for the average person to afford. The fact that there are not any successful resuscitations recorded for cryonics patients demonstrates the probability that the damage factor occurrence may be preventing reanimation of a frozen human being and to date it is still not possible.
While there is much controversy about whether cryobiology advancement is scientifically or ethically justifiable, it does offer the possibility of redefining mortality. As a result, several societies for cryobiology based on the life preservation theory have surfaced around the world through the years with members that date back to as early as 1964.
With the many important medical contributions of cryobiology being promoted in the field of organ transplantation and the high expectation of cryopreservation as a future technology, medical research may be the governing force in the cryobiology science that can sway the argument in favor of pursuing the research further despite the current set-backs
