Nectome's pioneering technique, Aldehyde-Stabilized Cryopreservation (ASC), was developed in response to a 2010 call from the neuroscience community for verifiable high-quality preservation of whole mammalian brains. In 2018, the Brain Preservation Foundation awarded their Large Mammal Brain Preservation Prize to Nectome founder Aurelia Song. Their extensive third-party validation confirmed that ASC could preserve brains with a fidelity not demonstrated by any other technique.
Image: A stained slice of pig cerebellum preserved by Nectome.
Today, ASC forms the foundation for Nectome's ultra-high-quality whole-body preservation services for the terminally ill. We use the body's own vascular system to bring fixatives and cryoprotectants to each cell, in a process designed to perfectly preserve every neuron and synapse of the brain. The final state of an ASC preservation can maintain its quality, down to the nanoscale, for a hundred years or more.
Image: An electron micrograph of a slice of preserved white matter.
