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SUMMARY:Stopping the Biological Clock – The Lazarus factor and Pulling L
 ife back from the Edge. - Professor Barry Fuller (University College Londo
 n)
DTSTART:20180207T190000Z
DTEND:20180207T210000Z
UID:TALK100708@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Kieran Kejiou
DESCRIPTION:The concepts of ‘suspended animation’ and  ‘life in the 
 freezer’ are commonplace in fables and stories across history\, from Sle
 eping Beauty and science fiction to space travel and Star Wars. But there 
 is more than a grain of truth in some of them. In the real world\, we curr
 ently employ some of these technologies in the clinic and laboratory\,  wh
 ere living cells and tissues can be stored at cryogenic temperatures and r
 e-animated on thawing – to the benefit of patients.  In Nature  life for
 ms have evolved which can exist in extreme cold environments\, from plants
  and insects which can actually freeze their body constituents\, through t
 o hibernating mammals which can drop their body temperature to close to 0o
  C for weeks at a time. We have begun to understand how these ultra-cold o
 r frozen states can be achieved without damaging the living cells – at l
 east in some situations. What has our current knowledge got to offer to th
 ose who wish to enter  the world of cryonic suspension? Are there any clue
 s in frozen life for ageing? \n\nMy talk will aim to give an understanding
  of what it takes for living cells to travel to the deep\, deep cold – a
 nd get back\; to clarify the different descriptions which appear in scienc
 e articles\, newspapers and the media\; to show how Nature has evolved to 
 deal with the challenges – (are we as clever as we think?)\;  to give a 
 concise description of how we really use the technology in every day pract
 ices in the 2010’s\; to provide a few comments on the objective evidence
  about suspended animation and aging\; and\,  to close\,  some observation
 s about cryonic suspension  of individuals in the UK\,  as recently report
 ed in the media.\n
LOCATION:Churchill Co
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