The CEO of Ascendence Biomedical, Aaron Traywick, was found dead in a flotation therapy tank in Washington D.C. earlier this week.
What happened: Authorities from the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department are still investigating and haven’t released much information yet, other than to say there’s currently no suspicion of foul-play. The cause of death has not been determined/released as of the time of this writing.
Traywick, who was only 28, was found dead after reportedly losing touch with colleagues. Andreas Sturmer, who worked with Traywick, told Vice News that he hadn’t heard from him recently, “We all lost touch with him. It was radio silence. It was more than four weeks ago.”
For context: Ascendence Biomedical is a controversial company, perhaps best known for its employees’ willingness to forgo scientific method and medical protocol by experimenting on themselves.
Traywick, who had no medical background, once injected himself with an experimental herpes treatment on stage during a conference. Another employee of the company self-tested an HIV treatment in a similar fashion.
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? Wouldn't be a weekend without Ascendance Biomedical shenanigans.
According to biohacker Tristan Roberts, the company's Patient Zero for a HIV cure, pantless CEO Aaron Traywick got physical and locked researchers out of the lab after being confronted for defrauding investors. pic.twitter.com/JXzt3zNjqo
— Biohackinfo (@biohackinfo) February 12, 2018
No matter your thoughts on Traywick’s conduct, ethics, or his company, he was a unique person and a spirited member of the biomedical community. Tristan Roberts, another colleague of Traywick’s, told Vice News:
While many in the biohacking scene disagreed with his methods, none of them doubted his intentions. He sought nothing short of a revolution in biomedicine; the democratization of science and the opening of the flood gates for global healing.
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