Can you revive the dead? A cryogenic company has frozen its first client at minus 80 degrees

The architect's rendering of the Southern Cryonics facility. (Image: @StaSysAus/Facebook)

Australian company Southern Cryonics has successfully frozen its first client, marking the first known cryogenic preservation in the Southern Hemisphere.

A Sydney man in his 80s, who died earlier this month, has become Southern Cryonics' inaugural patient, known as Patient One. This milestone, achieved at the company's Holbrook facility, was both unexpected and swift.
Philip Rhoades, who has dedicated 14 years to preparing for this moment, described the process to ABC as both "very stressful" and groundbreaking.

"There were a couple of other people who were existing members who we thought might be likely candidates for being the first, but, as it turned out, it was someone who wasn't an existing member," explained Rhoades. The man's family contacted Southern Cryonics just a week prior, setting off a rapid sequence of preparations.

Following the man's death on May 12, 2024, the preservation process began immediately. Rhoades, who had been awaiting the news in Sydney, quickly mobilized, collecting bags of ice on his way to the hospital. The body was then moved to a cold room and cooled to around 6 degrees Celsius before being transferred to a funeral home.

There, a team of doctors and perfusionists began the intricate process of perfusing the body with a cryoprotectant, essentially an anti-freeze solution, to preserve cellular integrity.

The next steps involved packing the body in dry ice to lower its temperature to approximately minus 80 degrees Celsius. The following day, the body was transported to Southern Cryonics' Holbrook facility, where it remained on dry ice until the arrival of liquid nitrogen.

The final stage saw the body cooled to minus 200 degrees Celsius in a controlled chamber, then placed in a dewar tank for long-term storage.

The entire process, costing the client over $170,000 (Rs 94.13 lakh) including additional medical charges, highlighted the logistical challenges and meticulous planning required for such an operation.

Rhoades noted, "With the people who are involved, all the different professionals, it's much easier if it happens in Sydney or possibly Melbourne. If you started getting out into the regional areas or the other states it starts becoming more difficult."

Despite the success, the cryonics field remains controversial and speculative. Professor Bruce Thompson, head of the Melbourne School of Health Science, likened the endeavour to "Star Trek in play."

He expressed skepticism about the feasibility of reviving a whole human body, given current scientific capabilities. "Doing that for a whole human body — and it died for a reason at the end of the day — and then reversing that and then reviving that is a very, very long time away," Thompson said.

Thompson also highlighted the ethical implications, questioning the practice of charging vulnerable individuals for a process with no guaranteed outcome. He acknowledged, however, the unpredictable nature of scientific progress: "Never say never to anything because in my life I have seen some amazing things happen."

The Holbrook facility, which can currently accommodate four bodies in one dewar, plans to expand its capacity which is at 40. With over 30 founding members and additional annual members, the facility anticipates increased demand. Rhoades, now 72, hopes for continuity in the venture he has championed.