Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: genetics – Page 547

A federal panel just gave the green light to use gene editing on humans

Scientists are one step closer to using CRISPR gene editing on humans, with a US federal advisory panel approving the use of the technique for a study led by the University of Pennsylvania.

The scientists are seeking to use the CRISPR-Cas9 technique to create genetically altered T cells – white blood cells that play an important role in our immune system – that are more effective at fighting cancer cells in patients with melanoma, multiple myeloma, and sarcoma.

“Our preliminary data suggests that we could improve the efficacy of these T cells if we use CRISPR,” lead researcher Carl June told the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) on Tuesday.

Genetically enhancing our children could raise interest rates

Always a trickle down effect on things that improve or change. Just reconfirms and reminds us organically how everything is indeed connected.

Capital tends to have greater value the more skilled and educated the workforce. Anticipating genetically enhanced workers would cause firms to want to invest more now in new equipment and buildings. Many assets, such as real estate and intellectual property, become more valuable the richer a society and so expectations of a much higher economic growth rate would cause companies to spend more buying and developing these assets so that businesses, as well as governments, will wish to borrow more when they realize the potential of human genetic engineering.

Many individuals will reduce their savings rate in anticipation of a future richer society. Today, fear that Social Security won’t survive motivates many Americans to save, but this fear and so this incentive for saving would disappear once genetic engineering for intelligence proves feasible. Furthermore, many citizens would rationally expect future government benefits to senior citizens to increase in a world made richer by genetic engineering and this expectation would reduce the perceived need to save for retirement.

Since understanding the consequences of a smarter workforce will increase the desire to borrow but reduce the wish to save, real interest rates will have to go up. These higher rates will reduce incentives to borrow while increasing the willingness to save and so will restore equilibrium to money markets. Expect to see higher interest rates as soon as markets price in embryo selection and genetic engineering.

How to Live to 150

I’m 55 years old. I’m shooting for a multihundred-year lifespan. That’s my goal. If you don’t shoot for it, you’re not going to hit it, right?”

I guess he’ll want to speak to George Church.

The author of this titles it “to 150” yet Peter here says multi hundred, and included a pic of Venter who has said he doesn’t think people should live past 120.

How to Live to 150

Peter Diamandis is leading the charge to crack our genetic code in search of a brighter (much longer) future.

Sam Eifling

We’re about to become more intelligent than at any other point in human history

Provided the variants for intelligence can be figured out and the genetic editing tools sufficiently refined (no small matter, in either case), Hsu thinks there’s an incredible potential for improvement. He’s written for the science magazine Nautilus that his calculations from the work at BGI indicate a potential for “very roughly, about 100 standard deviations of improvement, corresponding to an IQ of over 1,000.”

That’s a level of intelligence beyond what we can comprehend right now.

At the same time, we’re not just working on improving biological intelligence. We’re also working on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Smarter humans might be better able to solve those problems, helping us create smarter machines. Smart machines capable of processing big data are already essential for efforts to understand millions of human genomes. These things work together.

First phase 1 human aging reversal trials (GDF, Myostatin) in a year or two and George Church discusses how to affordably rejuvenate the whole body

The new goal is to reverse aging, not only in animals, but in humans. And age reversal is essential, as significant age-related disruption has already occurred in most people due to changes in our gene expression profiles.

Gene expression patterns change with age. This influences the rate at which an individual ages, and also determines what senile disorders they are likely to contract. But innovative gene-editing methods based on a unique technology called CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) are now being successfully harnessed for use as an age-reversal therapy for humans.

In response to these breakthroughs, Life Extension® magazine sent biogerontologist Dr. Gregory M. Fahy to Harvard University to interview Dr. George Church, who is a leading developer of cutting-edge CRISPR techniques. Here, Dr. Church explains remarkable opportunities for transforming human aging that may begin to unfold sooner than most have imagined.

Genes, brain structure influence second language learning: study

Very insightful for my deep mind/ neuro mapping friends.

If you have trouble learning a new language as an adult, maybe you can blame your genes and brain structure, a U.S. study suggested Monday.

The study by researchers at the University of Washington showed that genetic variations of the so-called COMT gene and a measure of the strength of the brain’s communications network — known as “white matter”— jointly accounted for 46 percent of the reason for why some college students performed better than others in the second language class.

“We are interested in understanding why individuals learn differently, including those who perform well and those who perform poorly,” said lead author Ping Mamiya, a research scientist at the UW’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS).

Emirati gene study shows diabetes and vitamin D deficiency risks

Diabetes 2 tie to Vitamin D issues.

First study of Emiratis’ genes highlights the links between type 2 diabetes and a deficiency in vitamin D. Soon doctors may be able to prioritise care for those who are most at risk.

ABU DHABI // The first study to examine Emirati genes and the links between type 2 diabetes and vitamin D deficiency uncovered a genetic code that identifies those susceptible to the deficiency.

While studies internationally have found links between the two conditions, it is the first time the Emirati population has been looked at specifically.

Watching ‘jumping genes’ in action

Jumping genes — not jumping beans.

“Jumping genes” are ubiquitous. Every domain of life hosts these sequences of DNA that can “jump” from one position to another along a chromosome; in fact, nearly half the human genome is made up of jumping genes. Depending on their specific excision and insertion points, jumping genes can interrupt or trigger gene expression, driving genetic mutation and contributing to cell diversification. Since their discovery in the 1940s, researchers have been able to study the behavior of these jumping genes, generally known as transposons or transposable elements (TE), primarily through indirect methods that infer individual activity from bulk results. However, such techniques are not sensitive enough to determine precisely how or why the transposons jump, and what factors trigger their activity.

Reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have observed jumping gene activity in real time within living . The study is the collaborative effort of physics professors Thomas Kuhlman and Nigel Goldenfeld, at the Center for the Physics of Living Cells, a National Science Foundation Physics Frontiers Center.

“In this study, we were able to see that there is actually more of this jumping gene action going on than might have been expected from previous studies,” said Kuhlman, whose team performed the in vivo experiments. “What’s more, we learned that the rates at which these genes jump depend sensitively on how the cells are growing—if there is food available for the cells to grow, for example. In other words, jumping gene activation isn’t entirely random, it’s dependent on environmental feedback.”