At just 40 years old, Kristen Fortney has spent more than half of her life thinking about the science of aging. But why?
“When I get asked this question I usually blame it on reading too much science fiction,” the CEO and co-founder of the clinical-stage biotech BioAge Labs said with a laugh. “My co-founder, Eric Morgen, and I have been talking about aging since high school.”
George Church is a geneticist known for his pioneering work in developing new technologies for genome sequencing, editing, and synthesis. He has also been involved in research on genome engineering and gene therapy.
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In recent decades, extracellular vesicles have been recognized as “very important particles” (VIPs) associated with aging and age-related disease. During the 1980s, researchers discovered that these vesicle particles released by cells were not debris but signaling molecules carrying cargoes that play key roles in physiological processes and physiopathological modulation. Following the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) recommendation, different vesicle particles (e.g., exosomes, microvesicles, oncosomes) have been named globally extracellular vesicles. These vesicles are essential to maintain body homeostasis owing to their essential and evolutionarily conserved role in cellular communication and interaction with different tissues. Furthermore, recent studies have shown the role of extracellular vesicles in aging and age-associated diseases.
We’ve known about telomeres for more than 80 years, but these tiny, protective structures at the end of the chromosomes keep revealing secrets to us, including the possibility of having surprising functions.
It turns out that these key biological cogs can produce proteins, something previously thought impossible due to their simplicity.
While it’s not clear yet what these proteins might do, the fact that they exist at all is significant.
Aging is a complex process, a river fed by several tributaries connected by countless interweaving streams. Its direction is set inexorably towards infirmity, or so it would first appear. Daunting as navigation may seem, their interrelatedness should inspire hope instead of fear.
Aging is undeniably the root of the most common and costly noncommunicable diseases in the developed world, as well as a predisposing factor to severe or fatal reactions to infectious ones. Whatever can be done to slow, halt, or reverse its course holds inestimable economic and humanitarian value (Lee, 2017).
The hallmarks of aging were assembled to broadly conceptualize what lies behind phenomena as seemingly unrelated as gray hair, wrinkles, heart disease, cognitive decline, and cancer. They serve as explanations for why everything from our joints to our eyesight steadily give out over time.
Here’s a new story on my AI & ChatGPT ideas from Singularity Group (Singularity University). Special thanks Steven Parton & Valeria Graziani:
In episode 90 of the Feedback Loop Podcast: “The Current State of Transhumanism,” we catch up with one of our first guests on the show, çΩΩ≈ΩΩ
The swift progress in biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), and neuroscience has been a significant contributor to the growth of transhumanism. Nevertheless, despite the increasing interest in this field, many remain apprehensive about the consequences of employing technology to augment the human body and mind. Ongoing discussions revolve around the ethics of creating superhumans, the possible hazards of artificial intelligence, and the potential societal impact of these technologies.
So according to Zoltan Istavan what’s changed and what is waiting for us in the future?
