For Christians, the story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ signifies triumph over death and sin.
Another resurrection story in the Bible is the Raising of Lazarus, a man brought back to life by Jesus Christ four days after his burial. This is considered as one of the greatest miracles performed by Jesus Christ.
With the help of modern science, some of today's scientists are now trying to "play God" by bringing the dead back to life.
An American biotechnology firm will soon begin groundbreaking trials to test a new technique to bring clinically dead patients back to life by regenerating their brains, after the company secured ethical approval from state health watchdogs.
The company, known as Bioquark Inc., got a go-ahead from an Institutional Review Board at the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. and in India to recruit 20 patients who suffered from traumatic brain injury for its so-called "ReAnima Project."
"We just received approval for our first 20 subjects and we hope to start recruiting patients immediately from this first site – we are working with the hospital now to identify families where there may be a religious or medical barrier to organ donation," Dr. Ira Pastor, Bioquark chief executive officer, said in an article published in The Telegraph.
This first-of-its-kind project seeks to test whether parts of the central nervous system of clinically dead patients can still be brought back to life.
To be able to bring the patients out of coma, scientists will utilise a combination of therapies, which involve stem cell injections to the brain and lasers and nerve stimulation techniques.
"To undertake such a complex initiative, we are combining biologic regenerative medicine tools with other existing medical devices typically used for stimulation of the central nervous system, in patients with other severe disorders of consciousness," Pastor explained.
She added that the results of these clinical tests will be released in two to three months.
"It is a long-term vision of ours that a full recovery in such patients is a possibility, although that is not the focus of this first study – but it is a bridge to that eventuality," Pastor said.
