13 August 2011 Last updated at 01:37

In pictures: Frozen in time

Over five years, photographer Murray Ballard has been given unprecedented access to the world of cryonics, which involves freezing a dead person's body in liquid nitrogen until, proponents argue, technology has advanced enough to bring them back to life. These tanks at a US facility are where bodies are stored.

Patient care bay, Alcor Life Extension Foundation (Image: Murray Ballard)

The final stage in the process of "cryopreservation" is placing a body in a tank of liquid nitrogen, which freezes the body at about -196C (-320F) and needs very little intervention apart from being replenished occasionally.

Cryo-preservation manager Matthew Sullivan (Image: Murray Ballard)

Before the body can be submerged in the liquid nitrogen, it must be slowly cooled to match the temperature of the cryogenic fluid in order to avoid damaging the flesh and vital organs.

Portable perfusion kit (Image: Murray Ballard)

The first stage in the cryopreservation process, after death, is using a portable perfusion kit to wash out the body's blood and replace it with a solution that cools rapidly in order to minimise cellular damage during transportation to a storage facility.

Standby team training, Sheffied (Image: Murray Ballard)

Murray Ballard estimates that there are only tens of people in the UK that have been cryopreserved or plan to be stored in liquid nitrogen. As there are no storage facilities in the UK, bodies have to be transported to facilities in either the US or near Moscow, Russia.

As an insurance measure, many people who want to preserve their bodies after death also keep an "archive" of their DNA. This is in case that they die suddenly and it is not possible to carry out the procedure to freeze their bodies.

A patient at the KrioRus Facility, Russia (Image: Murray Ballard)

Here, a body awaits being placed in a storage tank at the KrioRus facility near Moscow, Russia. One facility in the US offers the entire process and storage for about US $25,000 (£15,000) but others charge in excess of $100,000. A cheaper option offered by the companies is to preserve a person's head instead of the entire body.

Robert Ettinger pictured in his Detroit home before his death earlier this year. He is the founder of the Cryonics Institute and is deemed the "father of cryonics". Murray Ballard's exhibition The Prospect of Immortality is on show at the Impressions Gallery, Bradford, until 17, September 2011.

Science & Environment

In pictures: Frozen in time

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