New Scientist reports that Dr. Sergio Canavero will announce at a surgical conference in June a project to make the first human head transplant possible by 2017.

The idea was first proposed in 2013 by Canavero of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group in Italy. He wants to use the surgery to extend the lives of people whose muscles and nerves have degenerated or whose organs are riddled with cancer. Now he claims the major hurdles, such as fusing the spinal cord and preventing the body’s immune system from rejecting the head, are surmountable.