Lifeboat Foundation

A startup working to better understand the relationship our gut has with our brain has raised another $66 million.

New York-based Kallyope raised its series B round from new investors Two Sigma Ventures and Euclidean Capital. They were joined by Polaris Partners, Illumina Ventures, Lux Capital and others that had invested in Kallyope’s $44 million series A round in 2015.

Kallyope is trying to figure out how exactly the brain interacts with the gut by mapping it out. By collecting sequencing information about cells in the gut, for example, Kallyope can better figure out how they’re connected to neurons in the brain in a series of circuits. Understanding that relationship could lead to pills that could interact with the gut’s signals and in turn pass that message along to the brain.

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A study of the unusual digestive system of an ancient group of insects has provided new insights into future biofuel production.

Caloric restriction has long been known to increase the lifespan and healthspan of most studied animals. Research also shows that animals given a calorie-restricted diet are also generally more able to regenerate tissue damage following injury.

Caloric restriction improves tissue regeneration

A new study by the Lengner lab at the University of Pennsylvania has identified the actual cells responsible for this increased regenerative capacity in intestinal tissue[1]. The researchers found that when a mouse given a calorie-restricted diet is exposed to radiation, a specialized type of stem cell known as a reserve stem cell is able to survive and rapidly repair intestinal tissues.

Finkbeiner’s success highlights how deep learning, one of the most promising branches of artificial intelligence (AI), is making inroads in biology. The algorithms are already infiltrating modern life in smartphones, smart speakers and self-driving cars. In biology, deep-learning algorithms dive into data in ways that humans can’t, detecting features that might otherwise be impossible to catch. Researchers are using the algorithms to classify cellular images, make genomic connections, advance drug discovery and even find links across different data types, from genomics and imaging to electronic medical records.

A popular artificial-intelligence method provides a powerful tool for surveying and classifying biological data. But for the uninitiated, the technology poses significant difficulties.

Harvard University’s David Sinclair, world renowned for his anti-aging research, sees no limit on human life span and is collaborating on a clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a new drug aimed at slowing the aging process…

“There is no maximum human life span,” says Sinclair, Ph.D., who is a professor in the Department of Genetics and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Medical School. “Anyone who says that doesn’t know what they are talking about.”

Sinclair hopes to demonstrate what he has been researching, – and talking about, for the past 20 years – that aging is a disease, which can be treated.

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Summary: A new study didn’t find much of a difference between healthy low-carb and low-fat diets. The people on both diets lost about the same amount of excess weight. [This article first appeared on LongevityFacts. Author: Brady Hartman. ]

Is cutting carbs or cutting fat is better? A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggest that it may not matter much.

A team of researchers led by Christopher Gardner, a professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, followed 609 overweight adults ages 18 to 50. The researchers put the study participants, consisting of equal numbers of men and women, on either a low-carb diet or low-fat diet for 12 months.

Summary: UCSF scientists discover a protein in young blood that rejuvenates an aging brain. [This article first appeared on LongevityFacts. Author: Brady Hartman. ]

Scientists have long been searching for the factors in young blood that give it its rejuvenating powers to drug form for widespread public use.

A team of researchers led by Saul Villeda, Ph.D., an assistant professor of anatomy at UC San Francisco discovered a brain-rejuvenating enzyme that improved memory in adult mice when restored to youthful levels. The researchers say the new protein could lead to new therapies for maintaining the healthy brain function of humans.

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The Germany-born scientist, who arrived in the U.S. in 1962 and never left, was an opera-loving bon vivant who would have stood out in any field. His discovery of how proteins navigate the body provided a foundation for today’s research into treatments for cancer and myriad other diseases.