Lifeboat Foundation

The topic of the gut microbiota is increasingly in the news of late, and its connection with chronic age-related inflammation, known as inflammaging, is becoming increasingly clear.

What is the microbiota?

The microbiota describes the community of symbiotic and pathogenic microorganisms that live in and on all multicellular organisms, and it includes bacteria, archaea, protists, fungi, and viruses. In particular, the gut microbiota and its role in aging and disease have increasingly become of interest to researchers in recent years.

Continue reading “A Healthy Aged Gut Is Similar to a Healthy Young Gut” »

There’s a difference between editing genes in a person’s somatic cells and germline cells.

Editing somatic cells, which are differentiated (e.g., skin cells) and non-reproductive, impacts them alone. In contrast, editing germline DNA means changes are passed along to the next generation during reproduction. It’s no minor distinction.

Continue reading “When Should We Edit Human Genes? What You Need to Know” »

In his new book, The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, Galloway, an entrepreneur and professor at NYU Stern, provides a perceptive analysis of the four-horse race to become the first trillion-dollar company. In a casually incisive style, he uncovers how each of these companies have deployed iconic leadership, technology, storytelling, fearless innovation, lightning execution — and blatant plagiarism- to devastating effect.

From 2013 to 2017, the combined market capitalisation of Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google increased in size by the GDP of Russia – $1.4 trillion. And the power of The Four keeps on growing.

Military applications of gene-altering technology must also be considered (Op-Ed by Tomasz Pierscionek)

Recent developments in the field of biotechnology have shown that mutations can be edited out of the human genome. What are the future implications of this research and will it be used to the benefit or detriment of society?

Last month, UK scientists performed gene-editing experiments for the first time in order to gain a greater understanding of how embryos develop, and it is likely researchers in other countries will soon follow suit.

Continue reading “Where’d you get those genes? The answer may shock you” »

The first attempt at human CRISPR gene editing did not occur in a hospital or University or in a clinical trial by some $100 million funded company. Instead, it happened in small cramped room in San Francisco in front of 30 or so people who squeezed in to listen to a talk about how biohackers are making genetic and cellular modification accessible.

Two-thirds of Americans support therapeutic use, but regulators are still stuck in the 1970s.

Should Americans be allowed to edit their DNA to prevent genetic diseases in their children? That question, which once might have sounded like science fiction, is stirring debate as breakthroughs bring the idea closer to reality. Bioethicists and activists, worried about falling down the slippery slope to genetically modified Olympic athletes, are calling for more regulation.

Neuron. 2017 Oct 11;96:285–297. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.07.029.

Kim HJ, Taylor JP.

Nanobots that patrol our bodies, killer immune cells hunting and destroying cancer cells, biological scissors that cut out defective genes: these are just some of technologies that Cambridge researchers are developing which are set to revolutionise medicine in the future.

In a new film to coincide with the recent launch of the Cambridge Academy of Therapeutic Sciences, researchers discuss some of the most exciting developments in medical research and set out their vision for the next 50 years.

Telomerase replenishes telomeres, extending the cell’s lifespan. Researchers hope that telomerase enhancement will rejuvenate our organs.