What if we could stop aging forever?
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Continue reading “How to Cure Aging – During Your Lifetime?” »
The folks at Kurzgesagt have created another great video about aging and thanks to them for giving us the opportunity to work with them in creating this video. If you would like to support our work check out (https://www.lifespan.io/campaigns/join-us-become-a-lifespan-hero/).
The video today discusses the near future technologies that are changing how we treat aging and could potentially bring it under medical control soon. It is important to discuss this topic now and its great to see popular channels like Kurzgesagt are keen to get involved in that dialogue.
The CRISPR-Cas9 system has revolutionised gene-editing, but cutting DNA isn’t all it can do. From turning gene expression on and off to fluorescently tagging particular sequences, this animation explores some of the exciting possibilities of CRISPR.
Download a poster on ‘The expanding CRISPR toolbox’ here: https://www.nature.com/posters/crisprtoolbox
In many ways, stem cells are the divas of the biological world. On the one hand, these natural shapeshifters can transform themselves into virtually any type of cell in the body. In that regard, they hold the promise of being able to cure ills ranging from spinal cord injuries to cancers.
On the other hand, said associate professor of materials science and engineering Sarah Heilshorn, stem cells, like divas, are also mercurial and difficult to work with.
“We just don’t know how to efficiently and effectively grow massive numbers of stem cells and keep them in their regenerative state,” Heilshorn said. “This has prevented us from making more progress in creating therapies.”
A new drug being trialled for treating breast cancer and diabetes has been shown to ‘melt away’ the fat inside arteries that can cause heart attacks and strokes.
Researchers from the University of Aberdeen, using pre-clinical mouse models, showed that just a single dose of the drug (Trodusquemine) completely reversed the effects of a disease that causes a host of heart problems.
Atherosclerosis is the build-up of fatty material inside the arteries.
Understanding the factors that control aging has been one of humanity’s endless pursuits, from the mystical fountain of youth to practical healthful regimens to prolong life expectancy.
A team of scientists at the University of California San Diego has helped decipher the dynamics that control how our cells age, and with it implications for extending human longevity. As described in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a group led by biologist Nan Hao employed a combination of technologies in engineering, computer science and biology to analyze molecular processes that influence aging.
As cells age, damage in their DNA accumulates over time, leading to decay in normal functioning and eventually resulting in death. A natural biochemical process known as “chromatin silencing” helps protect DNA from damage. The silencing process converts specific regions of DNA from a loose, open state into a closed one, thus shielding DNA regions. Among the molecules that promote silencing is a family of proteins—broadly conserved from bacteria to humans—known as sirtuins. In recent years, chemical activators of sirtuins have received much attention and are being marketed as nutraceuticals to aid chromatin silencing in the hopes of slowing the aging process.
Continue reading “Scientists decipher mechanisms underlying the biology of aging” »
A worldwide team of senior scientists and clinicians have come together to produce an editorial which indicates that certain microbes — a specific virus and two specific types of bacteria — are major causes of Alzheimer’s Disease. Their paper, which has been published online in the highly regarded peer-reviewed journal, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, stresses the urgent need for further research — and more importantly, for clinical trials of anti-microbial and related agents to treat the disease.
This major call for action is based on substantial published evidence into Alzheimer’s. The team’s landmark editorial summarises the abundant data implicating these microbes, but until now this work has been largely ignored or dismissed as controversial — despite the absence of evidence to the contrary. Therefore, proposals for the funding of clinical trials have been refused, despite the fact that over 400 unsuccessful clinical trials for Alzheimer’s based on other concepts were carried out over a recent 10-year period.
Opposition to the microbial concepts resembles the fierce resistance to studies some years ago which showed that viruses cause certain types of cancer, and that a bacterium causes stomach ulcers. Those concepts were ultimately proved valid, leading to successful clinical trials and the subsequent development of appropriate treatments.
Continue reading “Landmark editorial identifies microbes as major cause of Alzheimer’s Disease” »
Thank you to everyone who took part in Longevity Month 2017!
Over the past few years, there has been a tradition of longevity researchers and activists around the world to organize events on or around October 1 — the UN International Day of Older Persons, or Longevity Day. In recent years, this has been extended to include the entire month of October as a Longevity Month, in which activists organize various activities and events to raise awareness for aging research.
This year, we have continued the tradition with our Longevity Month “I am the Lifespan” event, where people tell us their stories and how they got interested in aging research and doing something about age-related diseases. We are pleased to say that the response to our Longevity Month event has been a great success, with lots of videos being sent in by people from the community. We have been showcasing them on our Facebook event page during the last few weeks, and as the event has now ended, we wanted to share a few more with you and tell you a little bit about some of the participants.
Continue reading “I Am The Lifespan – Thank You for Making Longevity Month 2017 a Success” »
Why eradicating age-related diseases through rejuvenation biotechnology is probably not going to result in ever-living tyrants.
Suppose there was a country ruled by an evil dictator. Further, suppose the entire world was plagued by a terrible disease affecting 100% of the population. The disease isn’t infectious, but it is congenital. It progresses extremely slowly over the course of several decades, but it eventually ends up severely impairing one’s quality of life, and it is always fatal; it’ll take its own sweet time to kill a patient, but it always will, and it isn’t going to be fun.
If it was suggested that a cure for this disease should not be developed so that we could be sure the aforementioned dictator will eventually pass away, would you agree? Would your answer change if you lived in that country?
Continue reading “Why Eradicating Age-related Diseases is Unlikely to Create Immortal Dictators” »
The so-called “year without a summer,” 1816, was bleak, if not strangely gothic. Mount Tambora in Indonesia had erupted the year before, pitching volcanic ash into the atmosphere and obscuring the sun. Torrential rains pressed deep into the year, resulting in global crop failures. The birds quieted down by midday, as darkness descended, and for days at a time, a group of writers huddled by candlelight in a rented mansion on Lake Geneva. The dashing 23-year-old poet Percy Shelley and his 18-year-old companion, Mary, who had already taken to calling herself “Mrs. Shelley,” traveled to the lake to spend the summer with the poet Lord Byron. On the night of June 15, 1816, they read ghost stories aloud. And then, Byron suggested they each try their hand to write one.
Mary Shelley would write her stunning exegesis Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus in just under 11 months. She set forth to write a penny dreadful but instead wrote a stinging commentary on the times that came to her in a flash, a waking dream. A collision of forces discharged in her writing, and she produced something more than a ghost story—a “book of ideas.”
A scientist sets out to create a more perfect entity, only to have it backfire as the thing he creates gets out of control.
