What medical specialities deal with suspended animation, cryonics and hibernation?

[Pronghorn]

What medical specialities deal with suspended animation, cryonics and hibernation?

[Ryan_m_b]

Suspended animation is a very small field; by that I mean it is not a field unto itself, rather research comes from a variety of different groups. As such there is no defined set of qualifications for it. Having said that the study of anaesthetics and cryobiology would probably be useful.

[Pronghorn]

Which would be more feasible in our lifetime: suspended animation or mind uploading? I'm eager to hear a detailed answer.

[Ryan_m_b]

Which would be more feasible in our lifetime: suspended animation or mind uploading? I'm eager to hear a detailed answer.
Mind uploading is total science fiction, nothing more than a modern day take on the Ship of Theseus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus). That may change in the future but there is no real science on the horizon that indicates anything like that being possible. Reason being;

The mind is an emergent property of the brain that is dependent on molecular scale interactions
The brain is dependent on the body
The body is dependent on the environment
We have no way of "scanning" a body at the molecular level
We have no way of simulating a body and an environment at a molecular level

There is a lot of misinformation on subjects such as mind uploading from popular "futurologists". These people are not scientists and often demonstrate a huge ignorance of the field and the complexities of what they suggest.

Bearing that in mind and taking into account the fact that various mammals have been put into induced hibernation or even killed, cooled and then revived suspended animation seems more likely. Note though that this does not mean it is necessarily likely nor that we will necessarily see it in our life time.

[Pronghorn]

Thanks for answering. Apologies for my posting mistakes.

[Ryan_m_b]

Thanks for answering. Apologies for my posting mistakes.
You posted no mistakes, just legitimate questions :smile:

[mtc1973]

Its a routine procedure in any lab - although not what you might be thinking about. Cells are amplified and then frozen down under careful conditions all the time. Kept in storage until you need them. The freezing media usually contains high levels of DMSO or glycerine and the freezing takes place slowly in a controlled temperature drop. Then you transfer to liquid N. However, since only a percentage of cells will survivie you have to make sure the cell density is pretty high. The reality is that in any procedure you will get a percentage of cell death.

So for the future, not sure I'd like to be revived even if I had been succesfully frozen. It would be a long time in recovering from that insult!!

[Ryan_m_b]

Its a routine procedure in any lab - although not what you might be thinking about. Cells are amplified and then frozen down under careful conditions all the time. Kept in storage until you need them. The freezing media usually contains high levels of DMSO or glycerine and the freezing takes place slowly in a controlled temperature drop. Then you transfer to liquid N. However, since only a percentage of cells will survivie you have to make sure the cell density is pretty high. The reality is that in any procedure you will get a percentage of cell death.

So for the future, not sure I'd like to be revived even if I had been succesfully frozen. It would be a long time in recovering from that insult!!
These standard techniques for cell culture are worlds apart from preserving a body. As you say there is considerable loss; 10% loss of cell culture is fine but of a body it's fatal.

[mtc1973]

Kinda the point I was making..

[Ryan_m_b]

Kinda the point I was making..
I know, I was agreeing and outlining the point for the OP.

[mtc1973]

Actually would be interesting to see what the cell death percent isf those animals that can freeze

[dimensionless]

suspended animation - organ transplantation, heart surgery, traumatic suspension of animation as in hypothermia

cryogenics - not really medical, except maybe in the areas mentioned above

hibernation - not medical. humans do not experience hibernation.

[Ryan_m_b]

Regarding hibernation: mice don't hibernation but such states have been induced and there are reports of humans who have entered hibernation like states.

[Pronghorn]

Another round of questions if you will...:)

What science studies: a) aging; b) disease; c) healing?

Thanks!

[Ryan_m_b]

a) aging
Gerontology for a holistic view biogerontology/medical gerontology for the physical processes.
b) disease
Medicine/biology. You'll have to narrow that down for a better answer; do you mean infectious disease? Genetic disorders? Autoimmune diseases? Or perhaps something like epidemiology for studying diseases wrt. populations?
c) healing
There is no one field that covers wound healing, the closest you would get is a specialisation of medicine/biomedical science or something like regenerative medicine.

[Pronghorn]

You'll have to narrow that down for a better answer; do you mean infectious disease? Genetic disorders? Autoimmune diseases?
Any sort of disease. I was under the impression that some science studies all diseases. I'm thinking pathology...

There is no one field that covers wound healing, the closest you would get is a specialisation of medicine/biomedical science or something like regenerative medicine.
How about immunology and related disciplines?

[Ryan_m_b]

Any sort of disease. I was under the impression that some science studies all diseases. I'm thinking pathology...
Pathology is the study of disease diagnosis (with clinical pathology being application) but I thought you might have something more specific in mind. Bear in mind that all medical and biomed disciplines deal with disease in some way.

EDIT: Also you can't study "all diseases." Many clinicians and scientists dedicate their entire careers towards the study and treatment of just one class of or just one disease.
How about immunology and related disciplines?
Immunology deals with immune responses which are a part of but not all of wound healing.