Board Report

Research and Development
Our preparation of the new whole-body vitrification system continues, and we are nearing the end of that project. A punch list has been created for the automation, and we anticipate this portion to be completed soon. We have been modifying an old operating room table to support the patient enclosure, a task that became necessary when we expanded the plenum in hopes of improving nitrogen distribution for the cooling plate.

Dewar Maintenance Update
Bigfoot-10’s pump down continues, and it is at 10 microns (210 degrees C) after 1800 hours on the pump. We are estimating a June conclusion to this effort as steps are being taken to firmly deal with the dewar contractors to resolve the situation regarding the purchase of dewars in the future.

Financial Statements
Tanya Jones will contact the accountants to see if the massive amounts of data already assembled for the financial reviews of 2006 and 2007 will be sufficient to start the audit.

Administrative Statistics
Membership: On April 30, 2008, Alcor had 859 members on its Emergency Responsibility List. Ten memberships were approved during the month of April, no memberships were reinstated, one membership was cancelled and one member was cryopreserved. Overall, there was a net gain of eight members this month.

Applicants: At the end of this month Alcor had 67 applicants for membership. 11 new applicants were added, 10 applicants were converted to members and 2 applicants were cancelled resulting in a net loss of 1 applicant for this month.

Information Packages: 316 info packs were requested this month, 15 were handed out during facility tours or from special request. The average total of 246 info packs sent per month in 2008 as compared to 129 in 2007.