Cradle Health Secures $48 Million, Demonstrates Neural Activity Revival After Cryopreservation

South San Francisco – Cradle Health, a pioneering startup co-founded by Chief Science Officer Hunter C Davis, has unveiled its ambitious mission to create a "biology pause button" through reversible cryopreservation technologies. The company recently announced securing $48 million in funding and a significant breakthrough: successfully cooling and rewarming slices of rodent brain tissue while preserving their electrical activity. This development marks a crucial step toward their long-term goal of enabling individuals with terminal illnesses to be placed in a frozen state for future revival and treatment.

Cradle Health aims to develop procedures that can cryopreserve and rewarm biological systems with retained function, moving beyond traditional cryonics to focus on reversibility. The ultimate vision is to allow patients to "pause biological time" until cures for their ailments become available, with intermediate applications including extending the viability of organs for transplantation and preserving neural tissue for research. Co-founder Laura Deming emphasized that the company is "building reversible cryo technologies" to address this challenge.

The recent breakthrough involved cooling neural tissue to -180°C and then rapidly rewarming it using magnetic heating, with subsequent tests confirming the electrical activity of the neurons. This achievement, which Hunter C Davis described as a result of quick trial-and-error, provides tangible evidence for the feasibility of their approach. The team confirmed the biological nature of the electrical signals by successfully blocking them with tetrodotoxin.

The scientific undertaking is highly interdisciplinary, requiring expertise across quantum physics, surgery, neuroscience, chemistry, molecular biology, machine learning, electronics, mechanics, and materials. As stated by Hunter C Davis in a recent social media post, "Our challenge is deep across quantum physics, surgery, neuroscience, chemistry, molecular biology, machine learning, electronics, mechanics, and materials." The company is tackling complex issues such as preventing ice crystal formation and mitigating the toxicity of cryoprotectants.

With $48 million in investment, Cradle Health is led by venture capitalist Laura Deming as CEO and Hunter C Davis, a physicist and chemist, as Chief Science Officer. Their work in South San Francisco is focused on engineering sophisticated systems for vitrification and rapid rewarming, pushing the boundaries of what is considered possible in biological preservation.