The Cryoprize

Join us, donate, and help save lives!

There were nearly 120,000 organ transplants performed worldwide in 2013. However, it is estimated that this number represents less than 10% of global needs.

In the midst of the pandemic in 2021, there were over 40,000 organ transplants performed in the United States, alone. This does not account for those performed in other countries, which rises into over a hundred thousand.

This is only a fraction of the global needs for critical organ transplants that could save lives.

Whether or not you know someone who needs or has had an organ transplant, it is statistically likely you will in your lifetime. Learn how you can help.

A Critical Problem

Currently there is a critically short window of time during which a donated organ remains viable, so distance and transport are major obstacles to treatment. Today an organ donor and a recipient must be matched immediately for any chance of a successful transplant. The challenges involved with matching a patient and a donor, relative to distances and timing, mean that thousands of potentially life-saving donor organs are unused every year. Thousands more patients wait desperately for a donor organ that, too often, never becomes available in time.

The Critical Problems we face with Organ Transplants

  • A very short window of time to preserve the viability of the organ after donation
  • Distance and Transport issues, slowing down the donation process
  • Delays in matching donor and recipient viability

The Result? Thousands of potentially life-saving donor organs go unused every year that could have saved a life.

Finding a Solution

The Cryoprize is a grassroots initiative to solve these challenges and help these people get the life-saving treatment they need. Our goal is to encourage and reward the critical research needed to eliminate the current obstacles to successful organ transplants.

Cryobiology, the science of preserving tissues and organs at ultra-low temperatures, can provide the solution. An organ successfully preserved by cryogenic means would remain viable indefinitely, eliminating the challenges of transport and distance. Permanent organ banks could be established, much the same as the blood banks hospitals rely on today.

Introducing the Cryoprize

The goal of the Cryoprize is to award a minimum of fifty thousand dollars to any individual or group that is able to place one of several mammalian organs at cryogenic temperatures, transplant the organ into a mammalian animal for a period of at least nine months, and show, during that time period, proper clinical function of the organ. The organs in question are the heart, lung, kidney, liver and pancreas.

The prize is sponsored by The Immortalist Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to longevity research and outreach. But we need your help to fund this initiative. Please donate today, in any amount, and help us save lives.

Prize rules are available here.