21st Century Medicine is changing the rules of the cryopreservation game. Cryopreservation of living systems works primarily because of the existence of cryoprotective agents, which are chemicals that reduce the amount of ice that forms during freezing.

Cryoprotective agents, however, have their problems. They can be toxic and can cause osmotic damage if used incorrectly.

Although these problems can often be limited enough to achieve good cryopreservation of simple systems, they become more and more limiting as the system to be preserved becomes more and more complex. Until recently, there has been no way to escape from this fundamental limitation of cryobiology.

Now there is.

21st Century Medicine scientists have shown that it is possible to create solutions that are fantastically resistant to ice formation yet are also decidedly non-toxic. Even whole organs can now survive once lethal concentrations of cryoprotectants without damage. These solutions are finding applications in systems as simple as mammalian ova and as complex as whole mammalian organs.