Lifeboat Foundation

Following strong results for its flagship CTX001 drug, should you add CRISPR to your portfolio?

As genetic sequencing becomes more widespread, a disconnect is emerging between what individual patients expect to get back and what scientists are willing and able to tell them. WSJ visited MIT’s Broad Institute to learn about the murky world of genomic research data.

Photo: angela weiss/afp via getty images

Continue reading “DNA Testing: The Disconnect Between Patients and Researchers | WSJ” »

Just seven years after scientists announced the first use of Crispr-Cas9 gene editing technology on human cells, researchers shared new evidence this week that Crispr can be used to cure two serious genetic disorders.

On Tuesday, NPR reported that a patient in Nashville had seen a dramatic decline in her symptoms of sickle cell disease after receiving a single gene therapy treatment in July. Sickle cell, which can lead to inflammation, debilitating pain, and life-threatening circulatory problems, affects millions of people around the world.

That same day, the biotech companies behind the sickle-cell treatment, Crispr Therapeutics and Vertex, also shared promising results from their first attempt to cure a case of beta thalassemia, another genetic disorder that affects blood proteins. Nine months after receiving the experimental treatment, a patient in Germany with beta thalassemia has almost no signs of the disorder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8LNTOBjWaM&feature=share

Husbands Ian and Leon discuss the future of longevity technology and genetic research in Silicon Valley with the infamous bio-tech renegade Aubrey DeGrey.

Ian and Leon then drive a classic car down the Pacific Coast Highway and into the desert to the 7th Day Adventist community of Loma Linda to learn about “Blue Zones” and how anyone can make simple lifestyle changes that would allow them to live radically longer lives.

Continue reading “Silicon Valley: The Research for Living Longer | Longevity Road Trip | TRACKS” »

For years, researchers weren’t exactly sure what to make of these extra loops of genetic material. That’s quickly changing.

We will have a fresh new presentation on Exosomes “The End of Aging” by Harvard Genetics Genius Dr. Duncan Ross, the Founder of Kimera Labs. And Bill Faloon will present the latest in Age Reversal research.

Visit The Church of Perpetual Life this Thursday, November 21st at 7:00 PM.
Our Doors open at 6:00 PM
Before the service: Enjoy tasty snacks, networking and conversations on Age Reversal, Cryonics, The Singularity and other topics of interest to all for the quest of an Unlimited Life. Stay afterwards as we have a delicious 5 star dinner reception with speakers.

Continue reading “Dr. Duncan Ross presentation on Exosomes and Bill Faloon Age Reversal Update” »

Cancer cells may owe some of their destructive nature to unique, “doughnut-shaped” DNA, according to a new study.

The study, published today (Nov. 20) in the journal Nature, found that, in some cancer cells, DNA doesn’t pack into thread-like structures like it does in healthy cells — rather, the genetic material folds into a ring-like shape that makes the cancer more aggressive.

Promising preliminary data from one of the first human trials testing the safety and efficacy of a CRISPR gene therapy has just been revealed. Although it is too early to evaluate long-term effects, the initial reports are impressively successful for two patients with severe genetic blood diseases.

Until February of this year, when pharmaceutical companies CRISPR Therapeutics and Vertex began a large global trial into a treatment called CTX001, no human outside of China had been officially treated with a CRISPR-based gene editing therapy.

CTX001 was developed to treat two types of inherited blood disease, beta-thalassemia and sickle cell disease. Both conditions are caused by a mutation in a single gene and the treatment involves engineering a patient’s stem cells with a single genetic change designed to raise levels of fetal hemoglobin in red blood cells.

While Intermittent fasting may sound like another dieting craze, the practice of routinely not eating and drinking for short periods of time has shown again to lead to potentially better health outcomes.

In a new study by researchers at the Intermountain Healthcare Heart Institute in Salt Lake City, researchers have found that cardiac catheterization patients who practiced regular intermittent fasting lived longer than patients who don’t. In addition, the study found that patients who practice intermittent fasting are less likely to be diagnosed with heart failure.

“It’s another example of how we’re finding that regularly fasting can lead to better health outcomes and longer lives,” said Benjamin Horne, Ph.D., principal investigator of the study and director of cardiovascular and genetic epidemiology at the Intermountain Healthcare Heart Institute.