Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: biotech/medical – Page 200

Sharks differ from one another, so there are no other examples within the kingdom. Only this shark. All the same, researchers intend to analyze the Greenland shark’s DNA further and compare it to other sharks and fish to continue to unravel this mystery.

Scientists are exploring ways to prolong human life.

“The goal is to have better DNA repair,” an expert told CNN, and scientists have to study all the animals with an unusually long lifespan to determine which ones would “more easily adapt to human use.”

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No mirror-image life exists yet, but scientists are calling for the research to stop before it gets close to a breakthrough.

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A spatially resolved single-cell transcriptomics map of the mouse brain at different ages reveals signatures of ageing, rejuvenation and disease, including ageing effects associated with T cells and rejuvenation associated with neural stem cells.

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Internal emails from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) reveal that the regulator withheld knowledge of DNA contamination risks relating to the modRNA vaccines from the public, presenting a picture of certainty on safety where there is none.

Released under Freedom of Information (FOI), the cache of emails shows that high-level TGA staff knew elements of the modRNA vaccines can enter the cell nucleus and integrate into the genome, despite the agency’s official line that such events are not possible.

However, TGA personnel appear more preoccupied with “allaying fears in the public” than with investigating the potential risks.

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The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a new funding opportunity through the launch of the PROactive Solutions for Prolonging Resilience, or PROSPR, program. The big question that drives the program is, “What if we had therapies to extend healthspan and prevent the onset of age-related diseases?”

ARPA-H PROSPR Program Manager Andrew Brack, Ph.D., says, “the ultimate goal is to extend healthspan—meaning the number of years aging adults live healthy lives and enjoy overall well-being by compressing the frailty and disability that comes with aging, into a shorter duration of time near the end of life.” The PROSPR program builds on foundational work by the National Institute of Aging and will work with industry and regulators to accelerate the testing and availability of new therapeutics targeted at healthspan.

This commitment by ARPA-H is not only an investment in national health, but an impactful economic investment. The number of people 65 and older accounts for 18% of the U.S. population and is projected to increase to 23% by 2054. Considering their increased care needs relative to younger ages, health care costs will increase by 75% if nothing is done to prevent the progressive loss of physical functioning during aging, according to a Pew Research Center Study. It is estimated that increasing the average American healthspan would lessen health care costs due to a combination of fewer medical needs, less reliance on assistance by others, and increased potential for individuals and their family caregivers to remain in the workforce. Because of these and other factors, it is estimated that extending healthspan by one year in only 10 percent of the aging population would reduce costs of U.S.

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A UCLA study found that a diet low in omega-6 and high in omega-3 fatty acids, along with fish oil supplements, can significantly slow the growth of prostate cancer cells in men opting for active surveillance, potentially reducing the need for future aggressive treatments.

Researchers from UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have found new evidence that dietary changes may slow cancer cell growth in men with prostate cancer undergoing active surveillance—a treatment approach that involves closely monitoring the cancer without immediate medical intervention.

Prostate Cancer and Dietary Intervention.

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While companies like Neuralink have recently provided some flashy demos of what could be achieved by hooking brains up to computers, the technology still has serious limitations preventing wider use.

Non-invasive approaches like electroencephalograms (EEGs) provide only coarse readings of neural signals, limiting their functionality. Directly implanting electrodes in the brain can provide a much clearer connection, but such risky medical procedures are hard to justify for all but the most serious conditions.

California-based startup Science Corporation thinks that an implant using living neurons to connect to the brain could better balance safety and precision. In recent non-peer-reviewed research posted on bioarXiv, the group showed a prototype device could connect with the brains of mice and even let them detect simple light signals.

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Summary: New research reveals how the body’s circadian clock regulates macrophage activity, influencing immune system inflammation throughout the day. Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, a key component in the immune response, peaks during the morning when macrophages are most efficient. This daily rhythm is driven by mitochondrial activity, explaining why inflammatory conditions like arthritis often worsen in the morning.

The findings open doors to time-targeted therapies, potentially improving treatments for diseases driven by overactive inflammasomes. Understanding the immune system’s internal clock could lead to precise interventions for inflammatory disorders.

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A team of University of Melbourne researchers from the Caruso Nanoengineering Group has created an innovative drug delivery system with outstanding potential to improve drug development.

The team has pioneered a that is a coordination network composed of only metal ions and biomolecules, known as metal–biomolecule network (MBN). This system eliminates the need for complicated drug “carriers,” making it potentially more useful in a range of applications.

The research has been published in Science Advances and was led by Melbourne Laureate Professor and NHMRC Leadership Fellow Frank Caruso, from the Department of Chemical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, with Research Fellows Dr. Wanjun Xu and Dr. Zhixing Lin joint first authors.

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