Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: biotech/medical – Page 2,813

Fisetin a Compound in Strawberries Slows Aging in Mice

Interesting results in mice but don’t jump on the bandwagon yet.

Fisetin is a naturally occurring plant polyphenol from the flavonoid group, similar to quercetin. It is present in many plants, where it acts as a colouring agent. It is also found in many fruits and vegetables, such as strawberries, apples, persimmons, onions, and cucumbers.

It has also been found to be a senolytic compound able to clear senescent cells, at least it does in vitro studies in a petri dish[1]. The clearance of dysfunctional senescent cells is one of the repair based approaches proposed by the SENS Research Foundation to prevent or reverse age-related diseases.

Before you jump on the bandwagon

We see this every time a new compound or supplement is in the news: people rush out to buy it before sufficient research has been done. We should be cautious here, and before we spend our hard-earned money on yet another supplement, we should be mindful that there is no evidence that fisetin has a senolytic effect in mice other than in cell cultures.

Reprogramming Cells to Seek and Destroy Brain Cancer

A new therapy for brain cancer.

A new type of cell that can seek and destroy brain cancer and then dispose of themselves has just been successfully tested in mice. The cells are able to home in on brain tumors and reduce them to between 2 to 5% of their original size[1].

This new approach could potentially give doctors a new weapon against aggressive cancers like brain cancer (glioblastoma), which normally kills in 12–15 months.

Interestingly, it only took the researchers four days to create and deploy these cells in the mice, which is an amazing accomplishment.

This Is How Gene-Editing Will Change The Food You Eat

For example, in 1994 Calgene won approval to sell the Flavr Savr tomato. To make a Flavr Savr, scientists genetically modified a garden variety tomato with aminoglycoside 3-phosphotransferase II, a compound that kept the fruit from rotting.

The tinkering sabotaged the process that makes tomatoes turn squishy. But the less-squishy tomatoes never did catch on with a skeptical public. The company was later sold to Monsanto.

It changed everything.

With CRISPR, scientists can literally edit organisms, removing the bits that lead to unfavorable outcomes.

Ethicists worry about a rush toward designer babies. And there have been some disturbing developments on that end in China. However, the real opportunity in the near term has always been agriculture.

Cell Functional Age Shows How Old You Really Are

A new aging biomarker system has been published and it looks pretty robust.

Chronological age is now generally accepted by academics as being a poor means to identify how a person is aging. Far more useful is a person’s biological age in evaluating how fast someone is aging.

Biological age is assessed using indicators known as aging biomarkers, and as rejuvenation biotechnology draws ever nearer, there is an urgent need for more effective biomarkers. As well as finding effective biomarkers, another challenge in the field of aging research is seeking consensus among academics as to which biomarkers are the best ones to use.

Ok, but why does that matter?

Being able to accurately assess how someone is aging could help them and their healthcare provider to optimize their personal health strategy. It could help to highlight potential problem areas of health before they become serious, for example.

Synthetic Biology and the Future of Creation

For decades, biologists have read and edited DNA, the code of life. Revolutionary developments are giving scientists the power to write it. Instead of tinkering with existing life forms, synthetic biologists may be on the verge of writing the DNA of a living organism from scratch. In the next decade, according to some, we may even see the first synthetic human genome. Join a distinguished group of synthetic biologists, geneticists and bioengineers who are edging closer to breathing life into matter.

Watch the full program here: https://youtu.be/rU_pfCtSWF4

Visit our Website: http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/worldsciencefestival
Follow us on twitter: https://twitter.com/WorldSciFest

Scientists Are Building Humanoid Robots Using Skin Grafts

  • Scientists are eager to begin using humanoid robots as a means to test medical technology that could help us better understand how muscles and tendons work.
  • By overlaying lab-engineered tissue onto mechanical robot skeletons, scientists would essentially be creating part-human, part-robot test subjects.

With all the advances being made in robotics in terms of capabilities, it was only a matter of time before researchers took it one step further, making robots look more human. That’s what a pair of biomedical researchers at the University of Oxford are hoping to do, anyway.

Rejuvenation is good for society

The benefits of rejuvenation biotechnologies would extend to the whole human society. #aging

Rejuvenation isn’t good just for individuals and the people close to them. It is good for society as a whole, for a number of reasons. These reasons—which I will now proceed to discuss—should be enough make rejuvenation research a top priority for humanity in its entirety.

Ever heard anyone lamenting that the great minds of history are no longer with us? That we could certainly do with all the Einsteins, Montalcinis, Fermis, Curies, etc, living longer? And have you ever felt saddened when a great mind of our time died? You probably did, or at the very least know someone who did.

Just imagine how much faster would science and progress march if our greatest physicists, doctors, engineers, philantrophists, etc, could live an indefinitely long life. Remember that we’re not talking about a longer life spent in decrepitude and sickness: We’re talking about a 200-year-old Einstein with the experience of two centuries but the physical and mental agility of a 25-year-old. If he was still alive, maybe he could’ve figured out how to unify general relativity with quantum mechanics—something that has been eluding all efforts for decades. Every time a great person (or any person, for that matter) dies, their particular experience is lost forever. Never mind that there are other experts, or that similar knowledge is found in books; it’s not even remotely the same. Rejuvenation would allow us to benefit from the knowledge and wisdom of the best among us for centuries on end.

High-tech beanie could allow humans to achieve telepathy in a DECADE

A company is developing a device that can allow people to see inside their brains or bodies in great detail.

The technology, developed by Openwater, works via a piece of clothing such as ski-hat lined with LCDs – and, illuminated with infrared, it can see into your body to look for things such as tumors and bleeding or clogged arteries.

While the technology has significant potential for disease detection, the company’s ultimate aim is to develop it for communication via thought — in just eight years.

Virtual reality goggles that could help facial paralysis patients

Facial paralysis suffered by thousands of Britons is being treated by pioneering NHS specialists with virtual-reality computer game-style technology.

The therapy could be used to help patients who find it too traumatic to look at their own ‘changed’ reflections after the paralysis.

The virtual-reality (VR) goggles encourage sufferers to carry out the regular facial exercises needed to regain muscle function – with the wearer watching an avatar’s face doing the exercises rather than their own.

Using Macrophages to Reverse Atherosclerosis

Increasing the level of autophagy might be the key to effective treatment of heart disease.

Today we will be looking at a new study that is attempting to treat atherosclerosis, one of the biggest age-related killers globally. As we age, our risk of developing atherosclerosis rises along with related conditions, such as hypertension.

We will be taking a look at new research that has reversed atherosclerosis in mice and is on the road to clinical trials in the future. Before we do that, let’s talk a little bit about how the disease develops and how macrophages work.

What is Atherosclerosis?

Atherosclerosis is an age-related disease where toxic, oxidized cholesterol deposits in the blood stream causes inflammation in the artery wall. This causes macrophages to swarm to the toxic cholesterol deposits, and become either M1 inflammatory or M2 healing cell types depending on the signals there.