Aaron Traywick

Aaron Traywick was a resident of Elmore, Alabama, and a graduate of Stanhope Elmore High School.[5] He graduated from the University of Montevallo in Alabama with a degree in interdisciplinary studies; he held no background in the sciences or formal training in clinical medicine.[6]

From January 2016 to his termination in July 2016, he worked to advocate investment in radical approaches towards anti-aging at the Global Healthspan Policy Institute started by his cousin.[7][8] In 2017 he founded Ascendance Biomedical in Washington, D.C. with the mission to “make cutting edge biomedical technologies available for everyone”.

Traywick's self-administered do it yourself homemade gene therapies received substantial media attention.[9][10][11][3][12][4][2][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] In October 2017, Ascendance Biomedical shared a live broadcast of Traywick's associate Tristan Roberts injecting himself with an “untested experimental gene therapy” for HIV over Facebook's live-streaming service.[21] During a presentation at the February 2018 BodyHacking Con in Austin, Texas, Traywick injected himself with something he referred to at the time as a “research compound”. In a later conversation with BBC reporters, he spoke of it as a “treatment” for Herpes virus, a term with a specific meaning subject to FDA regulations.[22] Shortly after the event, the FDA issued a statement on the inherent dangers of this approach to untested gene editing, without mentioning the company by name:[23]

The FDA is aware that gene therapy products intended for self-administration and “do it yourself” kits to produce gene therapies for self-administration are being made available to the public. The sale of these products is against the law. FDA is concerned about the safety risks involved. Consumers are cautioned to make sure that any gene therapy they are considering has either been approved by FDA or is being studied under appropriate regulatory oversight.

— US Food and Drug Administration

At the time of his death, Traywick was planning a CRISPR gene therapy trial for the treatment of lung cancer in Tijuana, Mexico,[24][25] and served as managing director for Inovium Rejuvenation,[26] which was conducting pre-enrollment for FDA-approved trials in several US locations to reverse menopause, rejuvenate ovaries, restore fertility, and bring hormone levels back in line with those found in youth.[27][28][29]

He is featured as a subject in the 2020 Showtime documentary Citizen Bio, directed by Trish Dolman.[30] He is also a subject in the limited Netflix series Unnatural Selection.[31]

Traywick was found unconscious in a sensory deprivation isolation tank, or “float pod”, at a float spa on April 29, 2018.[32][33][34][35] A spa spokesperson informed reporters that the spa's co-owner arrived twenty minutes after Traywick's float session was scheduled to end, and asked why someone was still in the float room. The door was closed although unlocked. The room was dark, though its automatic lights should have been activated when the tank's lid was opened. Traywick was discovered in the tank, which had automatically drained by that point. Emergency responders arrived within four minutes of the spa's 911 call.[36]

Traywick's body was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy. A spokesperson for the spa told reporters that police twice told her they found drug paraphernalia among Traywick's belongings;[37] Police did not confirm this point. Toxicology reports were said to be expected six to ten weeks following autopsy.[36]

An autopsy report provided to Bloomberg News on June 28 by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner showed that he accidentally drowned with the drug ketamine in his system. Ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic, is sometimes used as a recreational drug.[38]

The U.S. Transhumanist Party issued an official statement about his death, saying it was, as far as they were aware, a "tragic accident".[39]

Traywick was 28 years old.[32][40]

• Immortalists

• H+Pedia article on Aaron Traywick
• H+Pedia article on Ford Fischer, director of Transhuman