This book discusses the state of cryobiology, which is currently developing into an important and innovative field of medicine.
It is already routine to preserve and revive cells and small tissue samples through cooling. The current development of organ cryopreservation with the aim of preserving human transplant organs and making them available to remedy the shortage of transplants will be discussed. Preservation of the entire human body is also a long-term goal which may come a little more into reach by such development.
The processes involved in the cooling of tissues, using vitrification and cryoprotection, are discussed in detail.
The many experiments on cells, tissues and organs at non-cryogenic and cryogenic temperatures below 0°C are compiled and evaluated.
Obstacles to the methods and the development of means to overcome them are another topic.
The astonishing survival of cells following oxygen deprivation is presented with regard to the still inadequate methods of post-mortem tissue cryopreservation.
The possibilities of repairing and reactivating tissues form another chapter.
The book ends with an outlook on the development of amazing new methods and procedures for cryoprotection, the prevention of ice crystals and stress fractures, and the restoration of tissues.

The work addresses a general audience as well as academics and, in particular, scientists who want to find out about the state of research in the field of cryobiology cryoprotection in general and organ and body preservation in particular.

Prof Emeritus Dr Klaus Hermann Sames has studied medicine in Erlangen and Mainz. In 2007 he has retired at Hamburg University, where he had specialized in anatomy and experimental biogerontology. He has also worked as extraordinary professor of anatomy and experimental biogerontology at the anatomical institutes of the universities in Hamburg, Berlin, Heidelberg, and Zurich.

Sames has been a member of the German Anatomical Society and the New York Academy of Sciences; he is also an honorary member of the German Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics, founding Chairman of the German Society of Applied Biostasis, and honorary chairman of the Ulm Cryonics Project as well as scientific adviser of Cryonics Institute in Michigan.

His publications include The Role of Proteoglycans and Gglycosaminoglycans in Aging (Karger 1994) Sterblich durch ein Gesetz der Natur? (Frieling 2000), Kryokonservierung: Zukünftige Perspektiven von Organtransplantation bis Kryonik (Springer 2002), Medizinische Regeneration und Tissue Engineering (editor; Ecomed 2000), Applied Cryobiology: Human Biostasis (editor; ibidem 2013), Cryopreservation and Life Span Extension (editor; ibidem 2018), Erfolgreiches Altern (co-editor; Huber 1989), Kompendium der Gerontology (co-editor; Ecomed 1994); Extending the Life Span (co-editor; LIT Verlag 2005).

His papers have been published by, among other outlets, in Archives of Toxicology, European Journal of Cell Biology, The Faseb Journal, Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, Mechanisms in Aging and Development.