Lifeboat Foundation

A small clinical trial, which was conducted by a team of researchers led by Dr. Greg Fahy, has shown for the first time in humans that reversing biological age may be possible.

The results of TRIIM are in

The researchers spent a year running the Thymus Regeneration, Immunorestoration, and Insulin Mitigation (TRIIM) trial, which included 9 volunteers aged between 51 and 65. The trial was aimed at testing if a growth hormone and drug combination could be used safely in humans to restore thymic function lost due to aging [1].

Alex Eskin, a mathematician at the University of Chicago, has won the $3 million 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics.

The Breakthrough Prizes were founded in 2013 by a group of tech billionaires (as well as multihundred millionaire Anne Wojcicki, co-founder and CEO of genomics and biotech company 23andMe). The prizes are awarded each year to researchers in mathematics, fundamental physics and the life sciences. Past winners decide who will win in each category.

Our mission is to promote the advancement of biomedical technologies which will increase healthy human lifespan.

A 5 year study. In recent years it has been shown to extend the lives of nematodes (or roundworms) by 57% and mice by 6%. In humans, claims abound that metformin-takers are living longer, having fewer cardiovascular episodes and seeing reduced odds of getting cancer.

Groundbreaking TAME trial, which directly targets aging as an endpoint, finally begins this November, reveals lead clinician Dr Nir Barzilai.

Physicists at LMU have developed a highly sensitive method for measuring the mechanical stability of protein conformations, and used it to monitor the early steps in the formation of blood clots.

As the central mediators of cell function in biological organisms, proteins are involved in the execution of virtually all cellular processes. They provide the internal scaffolding that gives cells their form, and enable cells to dynamically alter their morphology. They transport substrates back and forth across membranes, and they catalyze most of the chemical reactions that take place in cells. In the course of these tasks many proteins are subjected to external forces. Indeed, some “mechanosensitive” proteins effectively measure the strength of the forces acting upon them and are activated when the imposed force exceeds a given threshold value. Von Willebrand Factor (VWF), which initiates the formation of blood clots, is an important representative of this class.

The mechanical forces required to activate proteins like VWF are often so small that their magnitude could not be determined using existing methods. Now, a team of scientists led by LMU physicists Dr. Martin Benoit and Professor Jan Lipfert has developed a much more sensitive procedure. Their “magnetic tweezers” can quantify forces that are 100 times smaller than the commonly used alternative method currently available. As Lipfert and colleagues report in the journal PNAS, they have employed the technique to observe the unfolding of the VWF protein under the influence of low mechanical forces.

A series of genetic variants can influence handedness, according to a new paper.

No, researchers have not discovered a “handedness gene.” But through brain imaging of 9,000 people in the United Kingdom, researchers devised a list of genetic variations that contribute to the way different brain processes end up on either side of the brain. This, in turn influences handedness—and can also influence whether someone will develop certain neurological diseases, according to the paper published in the journal Brain.

Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology have recently developed a flexible and imperceptible magnetic skin that adds permanent magnetic properties to all surfaces to which it is applied. This artificial skin, presented in a paper published in Wiley’s Advanced Materials Technologies journal, could have numerous interesting applications. For instance, it could enable the development of more effective tools to aid people with disabilities, help biomedical professionals to monitor their patients’ vital signs, and pave the way for new consumer tech.

“Artificial skins are all about extending our senses or abilities,” Adbullah Almansouri, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told TechXplore. “A great challenge in their development, however, is that they should be imperceptible and comfortable to wear. This is very difficult to achieve reliably and durably, if we need stretchable electronics, batteries, substrates, antennas, sensors, wires, etc. We decided to remove all these delicate components from the skin itself and place them in a comfortable nearby location (i.e., inside of eye glasses or hidden in a fabric).”

The artificial skin, developed under the supervision of Prof. Jürgen Kosel, is magnetic, thin and highly flexible. When it is worn by a human user, it can be easily tracked by a nearby magnetic sensor. For instance, if a user wears it on his eyelid, it allows for his eye movements to be tracked; if worn on fingers, it can help to monitor a person’s physiological responses or even to control switches without touching them.