21st Century Medicine, Inc. is the for-profit research company that develops many of the medical technologies applied by BioPreservation to CryoCare patients. As reported elsewhere in this issue, 21st has embarked on an ambitious program to perfect ice-free preservation of human cryopatients within two years. To achieve this goal, the full-time staff of 21st will be doubled over the next six months.

Two new staff members can be announced at this time:

Christopher Rasch, B.Sc. (Biological Sciences, Stanford) is joining 21st in March of this year. Chris is a cryobiologist from the laboratory of Dr. Gregory Fahy at the U. S. Naval Medical Research Institute (NAMRI) in Bethesda, Maryland. Chris is an expert in cryoprotectant toxicity assays in tissue slice models. He will be working on the development of new cryoprotectant solutions for organ and cryopatient vitrification.

Brian Wowk, B.Sc. (Physics, University of Manitoba), M.Sc. (Medical Physics), Ph.D. (pending) will be joining 21st in August of this year. Brian has been a physics consultant to 21st for three years, and is coinventor of several new technologies related to organ vitrification (now under patent). Brian will be heading the cryobiology section of 21st. He is currently president of CryoCare, and hopes to have time to continue in this role while conducting research.

Additional staff appointments will be announced in the next issue of CryoCare Report.

The growth at 21st is a source of great excitement for us at CryoCare, because we believe that the research may result in major advances offering potential benefits for anyone who is signed up for cryopreservation.

Funding for this laboratory comes almost entirely from two benefactors, Saul Kent and Bill Faloon, who have dedicated themselves to supporting research more than any other individuals in cryonics. For 1997 alone, their total research investment is budgeted at $583,700 (more than half a million dollars).

Saul and Bill are the principals of the Life Extension Foundation (LEF), the well-known mail-order source for vitamins, nutrients, and information about anti-aging drugs. If you would like more information about their products and services, call (800) 841-5433.

CryoCare is an entirely independent organization, not affiliated with 21st Century Medicine or with LEF. However, we are aware that some of the money we pay for vitamins from LEF ends up helping to finance research at 21st which may benefit us as cryonicists in the future.

The 1996 Annual Meeting of CryoCare was held as scheduled on December 13, 1996, in Las Vegas, Nevada. In accordance with our bylaws, a Patient Director election was held prior to the meeting. (A Member Director election will be held in 1997.) After three years of service, Patient Director and founding President Brenda Peters decided not to run for reelection for the 97/98 term. Brenda will continue to support CryoCare and cryonics in other capacities, and we are very grateful for her "tour of duty" on CryoCare's Board.

CryoCare member Micheal O'Neal, Ph.D. was elected as Brenda's successor. Micheal is a professor of computer science at Louisiana Tech University and has been a signed-up cryo-nicist for the past decade. He originated and maintains the CryoCare Forum email list and is an active participant on the Forum.

Micheal joins our Member Director, Bruce Waugh, and our other Patient Director, Brian Wowk (who was reelected to the Board).

We had planned to include a full report on our annual meeting, but had to omit it because of space limitations in this issue. The report will be published in our next issue.

During the last three months of 1996, CryoCare gained three new members and lost one. As of January 3rd, 1997, the total number of CryoCare members was 82.

If you are traveling overseas and cannot dial our 800 number, there is a new, alternate phone number for CryoCare. 1-212-243-3677 will connect you with exactly the same emergency response and information services as 1-800-TOP-CARE.