To mark the letter’s 25th anniversary, researchers have issued a bracing follow-up. In a communique published Monday in the journal BioScience, more than 15,000 scientists from 184 countries assess the world’s latest responses to various environmental threats. Once again, they find us sorely wanting.
In 1992, scientists warned humanity about a host of impending ecological disasters. A quarter-century later, most of them have gotten worse.
How far off is age reversal?
The simple answer is, I don’t know. Probably we’ll see the first dog trials in the next year or two. If that works, human trials are another two years away, and eight years before they’re done. Once you get a few going and succeeding it’s a positive feedback loop.
George Church Will Make Virus-Resistant Organisms, Transplant Pig Organs to Humans, and Reverse Aging An interview with one of the most prolific scientists on earth in his lab at Harvard Medical School Photography by Maciek Jasik.
[p]Patients with junctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB) carry mutations in genes that encode components of the basement membrane, which ensures the integrity between the epidermis and the dermis, such as laminin-332. These mutations cause blistering of the skin and chronic wounds. Following initial treatment of an adult patient with a limited affected region, Michele De Luca and colleagues reconstruct the full epidermis of a 7-year-old patient with autologous transgenic cells transduced with a virus vector carrying the non-mutated form of laminin-322.
Not sure what to think of this, opinions thoughts??
Written By Amanda Froelich Truth Theory
In a move that can only be considered controversial, the first pig-human hybrid has been successfully created in a lab. Researchers managed to grow human cells inside early-stage pig embryos, which led to the creation of the first pig-human hybrids ever made. The result is described as interspecies chimeras.
Though the experiment is still in its early days, scientists think the “breakthrough” would possibly one day lead to lab-grown human organs that would be transplanted into people who need them. If the experiment is successful, hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved.
For the first time ever, scientists have attempted to cure a person’s disease by editing a gene inside the body.
Scientists used an IV to inject a patient with billions of copies of a corrective gene and a genetic tool to cut his DNA in a specific spot. “We cut your DNA, open it up, insert a gene, stitch it back up.”
Scientists have edited people’s genes in the past, but that work involved altering cells inside a lab and then returning them to the body, whereas the latest experiment was performed inside a person’s body.
He is the first patient to receive an experimental gene therapy as part of a clinical trial. Earlier this week, Sangamo Therapeutics injected Madeux with viruses containing a package of gene-editing material, according to the AP. The hope is that these viruses will enter Madeux’s cells, specifically liver cells, inject the missing gene at the right place in his DNA. Only about 1% of the liver’s cells need to be fixed, and give his liver the ability to produce the enzyme he has been missing all his life.
Brian Madeux’s life hasn’t been easy. So far, he’s had 26 operations to fix problems in everything from hernias to eyes. He has a rare disease called Hunter syndrome, which is caused by the lack of a gene that’s used to produce an enzyme that breaks down certain carbohydrates. As a result, the carbohydrates build up in his body’s cells causing all sorts of problems.
There is no cure. One way to deal with some of the symptoms is to receive regular doses of the missing enzyme, which may cost him in the US between $100,000 and $400,000 per year. Even then, the enzyme won’t reverse the damage made already and it won’t stop further deterioration that happens in the brain.
But Madeux’s life might be about to change. He is the first patient to receive an experimental gene therapy as part of a clinical trial. Earlier this week, Sangamo Therapeutics injected Madeux with viruses containing a package of gene-editing material, according to the AP. The hope is that these viruses will enter Madeux’s cells, specifically liver cells, inject the missing gene at the right place in his DNA. Only about 1% of the liver’s cells need to be fixed, and give his liver the ability to produce the enzyme he has been missing all his life.
There is no doubt that the arrival of rejuvenation biotechnology will not only change how we age but also how society works. Eradicating age-related diseases will lead to challenges for our society but we should be positive about change and a healthier future.
A very useful skill you get from the study of mathematics is the ability to skim details off a special case of a concept and get to the general case, which is the essence common to all special cases. This skill, far from being useful only in maths and science, can be applied to a variety of situations, including—perhaps surprisingly—rejuvenation advocacy.
Think about common objections to rejuvenation: won’t it cause overpopulation? Won’t it make it impossible to pay the pensions? Won’t it make it harder for the young to find a job? Won’t it change our perception of older people and our idea of family?
The answers to these questions are more complicated than just yes or no, but this is not what we’re concerned with here. All of these questions above are special cases of a more general case.
T Cells are a major component of the formidable immune system that the body keeps at the ready to respond to the first sign of infection or disease. T cells detect if cells have been infected with a virus; upon detection, they trigger these cells’ ablation and destroy the virus.
Unfortunately, the T cells do not detect cancer cells, as these cells use various tricks to fool the immune system into believing that they are normal healthy cells. Thus, they hide in plain sight, and the T cells cannot seek and destroy them. A new study has found a possible solution to this problem.
