Lifeboat Foundation

First primate studies to show cognitive benefits of the protein klotho could be a step towards clinical applications.

Finding new drugs – called “drug discovery” – is an expensive and time-consuming task. But a type of artificial intelligence called machine learning can massively accelerate the process and do the job for a fraction of the price.

My colleagues and I recently used this technology to find three promising candidates for senolytic drugs – drugs that slow ageing and prevent age-related diseases.

Senolytics work by killing senescent cells. These are cells that are “alive” (metabolically active), but which can no longer replicate, hence their nickname: zombie cells.

DISCLOSURE: Longevity. Technology (a brand of First Longevity Limited) has been contracted by the company featured in this article to support its current funding round. Qualifying investors can find out more via the Longevity. Technology investor portal.

British regenerative medicine company Videregen is on a mission to cure chronic diseases and is targeting the human immune system through its work to regenerate the thymus. Building on groundbreaking work conducted at the Francis Crick Institute, Videregen believes its technology holds the potential to restore the function of the aging immune system. The company is already approved for initial clinical trials of its technology in respiratory disease and is working towards trials of its regenerative thymus technology within three years.

Longevity Technology: The thymus is a small but important organ in the immune system and is responsible for the development and maturation of critical T cells. It plays a key role in our early development, but declines significantly as we age, along with the functionality of our immune system, and its decline is linked to several age-related and chronic diseases. Videregen is betting that its technology can help restore the thymus, potentially rejuvenating our immune system in the process. To learn more, we spoke to the company’s CEO, Dr Steve Bloor.

A stem cell therapy treatment developed by Duke-NUS Medical School researchers for heart failure has shown promising results in preclinical trials. These cells, when transplanted into an injured heart, are able to repair damaged tissue and improve heart function, according to a study published in the journal npj Regenerative Medicine.

Longevity. Technology: The most common cause of death worldwide is ischemic heart disease, which is caused by diminished blood flow to the heart. When blood flow to the heart is blocked, the heart muscle cells die – a condition termed myocardial infarction or heart attack, something that happens to 805,000 people a year in the US [1].

In the Duke-NUS study, a unique new protocol was used where pluripotent stem cells were cultivated in the laboratory in order to grow into heart muscle precursor cells – these cardiomyocyte progenitors can develop into various types of heart cells, through a process called cell differentiation in which dividing cells gain specialised functions. During preclinical trials, the precursor cells were injected into the area of the heart damaged by myocardial infarction, where they were able to grow into new heart muscle cells, restoring damaged tissue and improving heart function.

In an interview with GQ, 54-year-old David Sinclair says his lifestyle changes got him back to his “20-year-old brain.”

New research published in Scientific Reports suggests that microbes in the human gut and mouth can impact how long people live [1].

Bacteria and other microbes are often associated with diseases, but disease-causing microbes are only a minority. The majority of microbes are harmless or beneficial to humans, and we have millions of them living inside and outside us. Researchers refer to this community as the microbiota.

In previous research, scientists had noticed an association between microbiota and longevity [2]. However, the association between two things does not necessarily mean that one is causing the other. Therefore, in this new paper, researchers explored potential causal relationships between gut and mouth microbes’ composition and longevity in order to determine what compositions of microbiota result in increases or decreases in lifespan.

Promising results from the very first primate trial looking at the brain-boosting effects of longevity protein klotho has buoyed scientists and opens the door to human trials aimed at restoring cognitive function and other age-related conditions.

On January 23, 2023, we celebrated the expansion of the SENS Research Foundation’s Research Center, more than doubling its capacity.

California Dignitaries Alison Hicks, Mayor of Mountain View, Peter Katz, President of the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce, Marc Berman, California State Assemblymember, and Saul Miranda, District Representative, were present to officiate the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Continue reading “Grand Opening of our Research Center Expansion” »

Accelerating Effective Treatments To Prevent And Reverse Human Age-Related Disease — Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Ph.D. — President & Chief Science Officer, Longevity Escape Velocity Foundation (LEVF)

Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Ph.D., is President & Chief Science Officer of the Longevity Escape Velocity (LEV) Foundation (https://www.levf.org/), an organization focused on proactively identifying and addressing the most challenging obstacles on the path to the widespread availability of genuinely effective treatments to prevent and reverse human age-related disease.

Continue reading “Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Ph.D. — President & Chief Science Officer, Longevity Escape Velocity Foundation” »