The Cryoprize

Rules

For those interested in competing for the awarding of the prize, the prize rules are as follows:
(NOTE: THESE RULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT PREVIOUS NOTICE)

Prize Rules As of Feb. 20, 2019

:

The following conditions and requirements shall apply to the awarding of the Immortalist Society Organ Cryopreservation Prize as of Feb. 20, 2019:

  1. Our current goal for the prize amount to be awarded is $100,000, with a longer term goal that the prize grows to $1 million dollars or more. The prize may consist of both actual monies raised but also may consist of corporate pledges. The amount finally awarded shall be determined by any monies actually raised plus savings and investment, if any, of those monies, less reasonable expenses, coupled with the amount of corporate pledges convertible into cash, also less any reasonable expenses.

    The prize shall be continually raised in total depending on whatever donations and/or corporate pledges come in. Further, any additional monies accrued by savings and/or investment, less any reasonable expenses incurred, shall be added to the initial prize money. All monies raised shall be subject to savings and investment and general management towards the purposes of the prize as directed by the Board of Directors of the Immortalist Society and any decision of the Board of Directors shall be final.

  2. The prize monies shall be awarded to the first person or group that successfully and verifiably brings a mammalian heart, lung, liver, or pancreas to a cryogenic temperature (any temperature that can be demonstrated to permit storage of said organ with virtually no change or decay over hundreds of years--typically approximately -120 Celsius or colder) and then verifiably restores it to full function as described further in the rules below. Other complete internal mammalian organs, if approved by the Immortalist Society, may be considered as valid for purposes of winning the award. All organs used in experimental work must be at least ten grams or greater in weight. The Immortalist Society will not accept skin or other "simple" organs for the purposes of the awarding of this prize. Individuals/entities interested in utilizing other organs than those listed above in an attempt to win the prize should contact the Immortalist Society for consideration of their choice.

  3. Any said organ mentioned in Rule 2 immediately above shall be stored with the entire organ at said temperature for a minimum of three hours.

  4. Said organ mentioned in Rule 2 shall then be transplanted back into an animal and shall show said organ to be sufficiently non-injured to perform its normal biological function at a clinically acceptable level for a continuous period of not less than nine months after transplantation.

  5. The research individual or group must verifiably, to the satisfaction of the Immortalist Society, reproduce the positive results mentioned above at least one time after the initial success, using no materials from the initial success OR must provide the method used so that another individual or team can and does duplicate, to the satisfaction of the Immortalist Society, and thereby verify, the procedure using no materials from the initial success. The individual or team attempting to verify and duplicate the initial success can be chosen by the original research individual or group provided that said verification individual or team is acceptable to the Immortalist Society or its chosen representative, if any.

  6. All experimental work done shall follow generally accepted principles, laws, and regulations for the humane treatment of experimental animals as are in place in the United States of America and in the State of Michigan during the time of any experiments carried out. The Immortalist Society reserves the right to add to/modify said principles at its discretion insofar as they do not conflict with existing United States laws and regulations or laws and regulations of the State of Michigan.

  7. These rules can be modified or amended at any time by the Immortalist Society or its chosen representative, if any, if it is determined, in their sole discretion, that such modification(s) or amendment(s) is/are needed or desired.

  8. Applications for the prize must be made by United States Postal Service Certified Mail or a generally equivalent means and sent to the Immortalist Society or its chosen representative, if any. The rules in place on the date of the receipt of the application shall be the rules governing the awarding of the prize.

  9. The sole discretion as to the interpretation of the rules, and any matters concerning the Organ Cryopreservation Prize and/or any associated matters whatsoever, shall remain entirely and absolutely with the Immortalist Society or its designated representatives, if any. All decisions that are made by the Immortalist Society or its designated representatives, if any, regarding any aspect of the prize and the award thereof will be final.

  10. In the event that the conditions for winning the prize have been accomplished but no individual or organization applies for the prize within a reasonable period of time, as determined by the Immortalist Society, the monies raised towards the Cryoprize may, at the discretion of the Immortalist Society, be allocated to any research organization or organizations and/or any individual or individuals engaged in research. The research engaged in by the organization and or individual(s) may or may not be limited to the field of cryobiology at the discretion of the Immortalist Society.

  11. Should any of the above or future rules be found to violate local, state, or federal law and/or regulations, all the other rules not found in violation shall remain in effect to the degree applicable.