David Sinclair PhD is a biologist and Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging and author of the forthcoming book “Lifespan: The Revolutionary Science of Why We Age — and Why We Don’t Have To”.
This conversation is about the science behind aging and David’s research on the biology of lifespan extension, treating diseases of aging and extending human lifespan.
Note — this is AUDIO ONLY (we didn’t film this podcast)
When I was kid I used to watch the Incredible Hulk on TV and wait for Bruce Banner to fly into a rage, his muscles inflating like balloons, pants torn to shreds while his entire body turns green as he transforms into the Hulk. As I grew up, and learned more about the advances in genetics, it never occurred to me that cutting-edge genome-editing techniques could explain the scientific principles behind the Hulk’s metamorphosis or his fellow Marvel Comics star-spangled hero Captain America. In a recent Stanford Report story, Sebastian Alvarado Opens in a new window, a postdoctoral research fellow in biology, creatively applies the concepts of epigenetics to illuminate the process by which average Joes become superheroes.
As Alvarado notes in the piece Opens in a new window and above video, over the past 70 years scientists have developed tools for selectively activating and deactivating individual genes through chemical reactions, a process termed epigenetics. Similar to flipping on a light, switch gene expression can be “turned on” or “turned off. ”We have a lot of genome-editing tools – like zinc finger nucleases, or CRISPR/Cas9 systems – that could theoretically allow you to epigenetically seek out and turn on genes that make your muscles physically large, make you strategically minded, incredibly fast, or increase your stamina,” he said.
In the case of Captain America, the process of deliberately switching on and off genes could offer a real-world explanation as to how scrawny Steve Rodgers gained extraordinary, strength, stamina and intelligence after being injected with ”Super Solider Serum” and then blasted with ”Vita-Rays.” When it comes to Bruce Banner, a little more creative license is required. Alvarado’s theory is:
Different African killifish species vary extensively in their lifespans—from just a few months to several years. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne investigated how different lifespans have evolved in nature and discovered a fundamental mechanism by which detrimental mutations accumulate in the genome causing fish to age fast and become short-lived. In humans, mutations accumulate mainly in the genes that are active in old age.
The emerging field of synthetic biology—designing new biological components and systems—is revolutionizing medicine. Through the genetic programming of living cells, researchers are creating engineered systems that intelligently sense and respond to diverse environments, leading to more specific and effective solutions in comparison to current molecular-based therapeutics.
At the same time, cancer immunotherapy—using the body’s immune defenses to fight cancer—has transformed cancer treatment over the past decade, but only a handful of solid tumors have responded, and systemic therapy often results in significant side effects. Designing therapies that can induce a potent, anti–tumor immune response within a solid tumor without triggering systemic toxicity has posed a significant challenge.
Researchers at Columbia Engineering and Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) announced today that they are addressing this challenge by engineering a strain of non–pathogenic bacteria that can colonize solid tumors in mice and safely deliver potent immunotherapies, acting as a Trojan Horse that treats tumors from within. The therapy led not only to complete tumor regression in a mouse model of lymphoma, but also significant control of distant, uninjected tumor lesions. Their findings are published today in Nature Medicine.
Next-generation sequencing technologies are helping researchers to find mutations unique to an individual’s cancer as well as the genetic signatures that predict their immune response. Can they use these clues to develop long-lasting and effective anticancer vaccines?
The most probable mainstream non-invasive way to transfer human consciousness in the intermediate future, with initial stages in the 2030s, could be the convergence of optogenetics, nanotechnologies, neuroengineering, Cloud exocortex and an array of neurotechnologies allowing to connect our wetware directly to the Cloud.
Initially, each of us will have a personal exocortex in the Cloud, the third non-biological “de-cerebral” hemisphere, which will be in constant communication with the other two biological brain hemispheres.
At some point, this “third hemisphere,” will have a threshold information content and intimate knowledge of your biology, personality and other physical world attributes in order to seamlessly integrate with your persona as a holistic entity.
Scientists have found a gene that can ‘lock’ and ‘unlock’ certain sections of your genetic code, allowing other genes to be expressed in your body. If you are under enough stress, this gene springs into action.
So you think you have access to all your DNA just by being born? Think again. You have to earn it, people. You have to work to get there. You have to suffer. Epigeneticists have proved this to be so, but they also might have a cheat code.
