Future applications of this information could include:
* Constructing a more accurate and nuanced definition of the phenomenon of "death".
* Helping forensic pathologists (or biologists or veterinarians) establish a more precise time of death (for example, in an eco-health investigation, when the practitioner needs information on the time or cause of poisoning, without a case of zoonosis). With a better understanding of the steps of this phenomenon in the human thanatomicrobiome, a coroner could, via a "postmortem serology", establish with greater precision the time since death (by the hour, or even by the minute), which can be useful for investigations to reconstruct the conditions of death.
* Illuminating the phenomena of cell death, apoptosis, and in particular the phenomenon of ischemia (including myocardial ischemia) and the process of healing and resilience, perhaps even for the purpose of facilitating them. The post-mortem gene revival means that, for up to 48 hours following death, enough energy remains in the cells to activate some cellular machinery. At least some of these genes appear to be those involved in physiological healing, or "auto-resuscitation". Previous studies have shown that in people who have died by trauma, heart attack, or suffocation, various genes including those involved in cardiac muscle contraction and wound healing were active more than 12 hours after death. Similar genetic evidence has been found in dental pulp. Some authors in 2015 introduced the concept of "thanatotranscriptome apoptotic".
* Understanding cancer. It has been found that genes involved in carcinogenesis are among those reactivated soon after death, with a peak of activity about 24 hours post-mortem. A better understanding of this activity could shed light on the phenomenon of carcinogenesis and potentially lead to new tools to combat it.
* Improving the quality of organ transplants. The fact that cancer-related genes are activated following death can shed light on the timing of organ transplantation to reduce the incidence of cancer in transplant recipients. Liver transplant recipients have been shown to be more prone to cancers after treatment than would be statistically normal. This phenomenon has been attributed to their post-operative diet, or to the immunosuppressive drugs administered to prevent their body from rejecting the transplant. One hypothesis (yet to be verified) is that post-mortem cancer genes activated in the liver of the donor may also play a role.
* Testing the hypothesis that after death, a rapid decrease of "suppressor gene" activity (which normally inhibit the activation of other genes, including those no longer needed after the fetal stage) would allow dormant genes wake up, at least for a short period of time.