Remember Captain America's century-spanning frozen wake-up in "The Avengers"? In reality, although we cannot replicate such a heroic legend, the scientific community is quietly unveiling the secrets of pausing life at an astonishing pace, exploring the infinite possibilities of the future.
On March 10, led by Academician Dou Kefeng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Director Tao Kaishan from Hepatological Surgery Department, Xijing Hospital of Air Force Military Medical University made a major breakthrough in the clinical research of liver heterotransplantation: the whole liver of a multi-gene edited pig was successfully transplanted into a brain-dead patient using the auxiliary liver transplantation method. During the operation, the transplanted liver secreted bile immediately after blood flow was restored with no hyperacute rejection, and functioned continuously for more than 96 hours.
Cryopreservation is known as the technique of solidifying time, by cooling biological materials (e.g. cells, tissues and organs) to low temperatures with the addition of cryoprotectants (generally -196°C liquid nitrogen preservation), and then rewarming them to normal temperatures (37°C) in an effective manner when needed, at which time the biological samples can still be restored and maintain their activity.