To be declared officially dead in the majority of countries, you have to experience complete and irreversible loss of brain function, or 'brain death.'

And although this sounds final and absolute, a joint US and Indian venture believes it doesn't have to be.

Bioquark and Revita lifeciences biotech are healthcare companies looking into so-called 'repair' and 'reanimation' technologies, and claim death may not be 'irreversible' and we have reached a point to 'push the envelope' and test if this is really the case.

The complete and irreversible loss of brain function, or 'brain death', is the legal definition of human death in most countries around the world. But one company believes brain death may no longer be the end of the line

The project has gained ethical approval from regulatory bodies for the first stage and is set to recruit a small number of patients, who will have been declared clinically dead from brain injury.

'We are repeatedly told through the medical es