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The science of
cryopreservation.

Science

Advancing reversible whole-organism and brain cryopreservation.

Cryopets is pushing the science of reversible whole-organism and brain cryopreservation forward through rigorous research programs. The projects below, funded by our nonprofits CryoDAO and HydraDAO, are pushing the frontier of what can be preserved, revived, and restored at organ and whole-body scale.

Research Projects

High Sub-Zero Preservation and Revival of a Small Mammal

Pioneering research into preserving and reviving small mammals at sub-zero temperatures.

Funding:$900K

Live Births from Vitrified and Replanted Whole Ovaries in Large Mammals

Breakthrough research demonstrating successful live births from vitrified whole ovaries in large mammals.

Funding:$350K

In Vitro Fertilization and Cryopreservation of Embryos Derived from RR-20 Space Mice Colony

Cryopreservation of embryos from the RR-20 space mice colony, saving valuable space biology research.

Funding:$18K

Multi-Organ Cryopreservation, HIFU Rewarming, and Quality/Functional Evaluation in a Pig Model

Pioneering multi-organ cryopreservation with HIFU (high-intensity focused ultrasound) rewarming and quality assessment in a large mammal model.

Funding:€50K

American Biostasis Foundation: Purpose-built Long-term Cryopreservation Facility and Research Lab

A state-of-the-art facility designed for long-term cryopreservation and cutting-edge research in biostasis.

Funding:$200K

Neuroscience of Learning and Memory Study + Survey of Doctors on Biostasis

Studies on doctors and neuroscientists' attitudes toward biostasis and brain preservation.

Funding:$25K

Cryoprotective Agent (CPA) Repository for Researchers and Medicinal Chemists

A comprehensive repository providing access to cryoprotective agents for research and development.

Funding:$52K

Molecular Profiling and Computational Modelling for Novel Cryoprotectants

Advanced computational methods to identify and develop new cryoprotective compounds.

Funding:$50K

Total Recall: Proving Complex Memory Can Survive Cryopreservation

Research with Gregory M. Fahy, PhD and Regina R. Mohaco, PhD on memory survival through cryopreservation.

Funding:$250K

Dowell Bio Spinal Fusogens

Axonal fusion therapies for spinal cord injury repair using advanced fusogens and bioengineered scaffolds to restore motor function after complete spinal cord transection.

Funding:$381K

Kind Bio Integrated Organ Networks

Integrated Organ Network platform developing bodyoids (coordinated peripheral organs that grow and function together) toward patient-compatible biological substrates for replacement biology.

Funding:$250K
View all projects on CryoDAO →View all projects on HydraDAO →

Introduction

Where cryopreservation stands today, and where rigorous research is taking it next.

An overview of the concepts that make cryopreservation work, the state of the art in organs and whole organisms, and how Cryopets sits inside that larger scientific arc.

Fundamentals

Cryopreservation means cooling biological material to temperatures where biochemical activity effectively halts. Stored below roughly −130°C, well-preserved tissue can remain intact for decades or longer instead of continuing to degrade.

Clinical cryopreservation already works routinely for embryos, sperm, eggs, stem cells, and some tissues. The frontier is scale: preserving complexity, vascular networks, and coordinated organ function without structural compromise.

Vitrification turns water into glass instead of ice.

Slow freezing lets ice crystals form and damage tissue. Vitrification avoids that pathway: cryoprotectants and rapid cooling solidify water as a glass, an amorphous solid with no ice. Gregory Fahy and colleagues showed in 1984 that this approach could preserve large organs without ice-related structural damage, reframing what cryobiologists thought was possible.

Vitrification is now used in fertility medicine, vascular graft banking, and experimental organ cryopreservation. The same chemicals that prevent ice can harm cells if concentrations or exposure times are wrong, so perfusion, staged loading, and rewarming matter as much as cooling.

Cryoprotectants are the chemistry that makes vitrification possible.

Cryoprotective agents (CPAs) are small molecules, often polyols or dimethyl sulfoxide-based mixtures, that penetrate cells and replace a fraction of intracellular water. They lower the freezing point, increase viscosity, and raise the concentration threshold required for ice nucleation.

No single CPA is ideal. Each trades off between vitrification potency, toxicity, osmotic stress, and permeability across tissue barriers. Real protocols use cocktails, often delivered in steps so cells equilibrate without bursting.

State of the art

Cryopreservation has moved far beyond frozen cells in a vial.

Modern cryobiology spans fertility clinics, organ transplant logistics, cell therapy manufacturing, and biobanking at scale. What was once limited to small samples and simple tissues is now pushing toward whole organs and, in the laboratory, whole organisms.

Recent advances in organ vitrification, vascular perfusion, and controlled rewarming are closing the gap between what works in a dish and what works at the scale of a kidney, a heart, or an entire circulatory system. Integrated organ and tissue preservation could transform transplantation, regenerative medicine, and public health on a scale comparable to curing cancer.

One of the clearest demonstrations of that shift is CryoDAO-funded work on vitrified whole sheep ovaries: perfusion through a proprietary device, ice-free storage at liquid nitrogen temperatures, nanowarming, and replantation. That work shows a complex vascularized organ from a large mammal can recover full function after cryogenic storage, on a path toward the first FDA-approved vitrified whole organ.

Whole-organism cryo

Whole-organism cryopreservation is the next scale of the problem.

Preserving a whole organism means preserving circulation, organ systems, and tissue architecture together. The work is systems engineering at that scale: perfusing cryoprotectants through the vasculature, controlling cooling and rewarming uniformly across tissues, and preventing ice formation or thermal stress fractures throughout the body.

Renal vitrification with transplantation and long-term survival showed that a vital mammalian organ can survive the process end to end. Multi-organ models in large mammals test whether several tissues can be preserved and rewarmed together.

The CRYORAT project, funded by CryoDAO, is one of the most direct tests of reversibility at the whole-body scale: high sub-zero preservation and revival of a small mammal. That is the direction Cryopets and our research partners are pushing: rigorous protocols, reproducible outcomes, and scale that matches real biology rather than isolated samples.

Where this leads

Whole-organism cryopreservation opens paths far beyond any single use case.

The same core science that preserves organs in the lab applies wherever life must survive extremes: trauma, distance, time, and uncertainty. That is what Cryopets is building toward: medical-grade cryosleep for pets in the field today, and research that pushes whole-organism cryopreservation forward. Done well, preservation retains the biological structure and information future medicine will need to restore.

Pet cryopreservation

Advances in whole-organism cryopreservation can give families a chance to preserve their pets when today's medicine can no longer help. Cryopets provides medical-grade cryosleep with the goal of protecting the biological structure and information that future medicine may need for revival.

Human cryopreservation

Medical biostasis offers a bridge when today's medicine cannot yet treat a terminal condition. The scientific question is not whether cold stops decay, but whether enough neural and cellular information can be preserved under optimal conditions to permit eventual restoration. Decades of cryobiology literature, including work on brain viability, connectome preservation, and memory retention after vitrification, suggest that case deserves serious research attention.

Cryo for space travel

Long-duration missions impose biological limits that engineering alone cannot remove. A crewed Mars round trip spans on the order of 900 days off Earth; lunar outposts offer no rapid evacuation, and trauma care on the surface may require stabilizing an injured astronaut for weeks before definitive help is possible. Biostasis research, from induced torpor to cryogenic vitrification, aims to extend that window, cut life-support mass, and reduce radiation and health exposure during transit. See also the Space Biostasis Coalition.

Medical evacuation and trauma

Controlled hypothermia and biostasis can extend the window between injury and definitive care, buying time for patients who cannot reach a hospital immediately, from battlefield trauma to rural emergency medicine.

Organ banking and regenerative medicine

A world with vitrified organ banks would transform transplant medicine, reduce discard rates, and pair with tissue engineering as regenerative therapies mature.

Conclusion

Why Cryopets works on whole-organism cryopreservation.

We believe whole-organism cryopreservation is the most consequential technology of our time. It is the bridge between two ambitions that have defined human striving for as long as we have looked up at the night sky: defeating death, and reaching the stars.

That is why Cryopets exists. We are here to bring affordable, accessible, medical-grade cryosleep to every pet that needs it, while advancing the science that makes reversible preservation possible. The science is hard, but the payoff is eternal.

Key research

Breakthrough papers that support the field.

Decades of peer-reviewed work underpins reversible cryopreservation for whole organisms, from early brain viability studies to organ vitrification, memory retention after cooling, and connectome preservation. Explore some of the most impactful papers in the field below.