Lifeboat Foundation

In order to find a way to trick the body into making new B cells, the researchers probed one of the ways that the body naturally replenishes its supply. Patients undergoing treatment for multiple sclerosis had their MBC stock depleted, at which point their body rapidly started to produce new B cells.

The team identified the specific hormones that shut B cell production down again once stores were replenished, and realized that deactivating the hormone results in the body producing extra B cells left and right. And going forward, they hope to turn that hormonal trick into a new rejuvenating treatment for the elderly and immunocompromised.

“We found specific hormonal signals produced by the old B cells, the memory cells, that inhibit the bone marrow from producing new B cells,” Melamed told The Jerusalem Post. “This is a huge discovery. It is like finding a needle in a haystack.”

The Human Cell Atlas is the world’s largest, growing single-cell reference atlas. It contains references of millions of cells across tissues, organs and developmental stages. These references help physicians to understand the influences of aging, environment and disease on a cell—and ultimately diagnose and treat patients better. Yet, reference atlases do not come without challenges. Single-cell datasets may contain measurement errors (batch effect), the global availability of computational resources is limited and the sharing of raw data is often legally restricted.

Researchers from Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) developed a novel algorithm called “scArches,” short for single-cell architecture surgery. The biggest advantage: “Instead of sharing raw data between clinics or research centers, the algorithm uses transfer learning to compare new datasets from single-cell genomics with existing references and thus preserves privacy and anonymity. This also makes annotating and interpreting of new data sets very easy and democratizes the usage of single-cell reference atlases dramatically,” says Mohammad Lotfollahi, the leading scientist of the algorithm.

This is a truly enlightening 5 min. excerpt by Liz Parrish on gene therapy and its suitability to achieve radical life extension. Among other important aspects, Liz tells us about how regulatory constrains are delaying progress in this important vehicle to treat incurable diseases and aging itself. I added subtitles in Spanish. Don’t miss it!!! In the description of the video is the link to the entire interview.

Este es un extracto muy esclarecedor por parte de Liz Parrish sobre la terapia génica y su idoneidad para lograr una prolongación radical de la vida. Entre otros aspectos importantes, Liz nos cuenta cómo las restricciones regulatorias están retrasando el progreso de este importante vehículo, para tratar enfermedades incurables y el envejecimiento en sí mismo. Le he agregado subtítulos en español. No te lo pierdas!!! En la descripción del video está el enlace a toda la entrevista.

Continue reading “Liz Parrish considerations on gene therapy (excerpts from an interview) (con S/T en Español)” »

In 2,001 Celera Genomics and the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium published their initial drafts of the human genome, which revolutionized the field of genomics. While these drafts and the updates that followed effectively covered the euchromatic fraction of the genome, the heterochromatin and many other complex regions were left unfinished or erroneous. Addressing this remaining 8% of the genome, the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) Consortium has finished the first truly complete 3.055 billion base pair (bp) sequence of a human genome, representing the largest improvement to the human reference genome since its initial release. The new T2T-CHM13 reference includes gapless assemblies for all 22 autosomes plus Chromosome X, corrects numerous errors, and introduces nearly 200 million bp of novel sequence containing 2,226 paralogous gene copies, 115 of which are predicted to be protein coding. The newly completed regions include all centromeric satellite arrays and the short arms of all five acrocentric chromosomes, unlocking these complex regions of the genome to variational and functional studies for the first time.

The latest major update to the human reference genome was released by the Genome Reference Consortium (GRC) in2013and most recently patched in2019(GRCh38.p13). This assembly traces its origin to the publicly funded Human Genome Project and has been continually improved over the past two decades. Unlike the competing Celera assembly , and most modern genome projects that are also based on shotgun sequence assembly , the GRC human reference assembly is primarily based on Sanger sequencing data derived from bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones that were ordered and oriented along the genome via radiation hybrid, genetic linkage, and fingerprint maps. This laborious approach resulted in what remains one of the most continuous and accurate reference genomes today. However, reliance on these technologies limited the assembly to only the euchromatic regions of the genome that could be reliably cloned into BACs, mapped, and assembled.

Favorite part at 19:06, Bioinformatics with Rutgers University attacking the hallmarks of aging.

#genetherapy, #immortality, #bioinformatics.

Continue reading “Seeking Immortality Through Gene Therapy — with Liz Parrish /Awesome Health Podcast” »

It’s his personal mission to make it to 200.

Sergey Young has made it his personal mission to live to 200. Seriously: The longevity expert, founder of the Longevity Vision Fund, and author of The Science and Technology of Growing Young, has dedicated his entire career to helping at least 1 billion people live long, healthy lives—and make these technological advances affordable and accessible for all.

Through his work, he has identified what he calls lifestyle “longevity buckets” to increase your lifespan and healthspan (because who wants to live to 200 with a low quality of life?). “By implementing them, we can add 10 20 healthy and happy years to our life,” he says on this episode of the mindbodygreen podcast. “We can easily live 200 years.”

Nad plus works for alzheimers.

In June of 2,018 the World Health Organization (WHO) released the 11th edition of its International Classification of Diseases, and for the first time added aging.¹ The classification of aging as a disease paves the way for new research into novel therapeutics to delay or reverse age-related illnesses such as cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic disease, and neurodegeneration.^2,3 Nutrient sensing systems have been an intense focus of investigation, including mTOR (the mammalian target of rapamycin) for regulating protein synthesis and cell growth; AMPK (activated protein kinase) for sensing low energy states; and sirtuins, a family of seven proteins critical to DNA expression and aging, which can only function in conjunction with NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), a coenzyme present in all living cells.⁴

Across the kingdom of life, an increase in intracellular levels of NAD+ triggers shifts that enhance survival, including boosting energy production and upregulating cellular repair.⁵ In fact, the slow, ineluctable process of aging has been described as a “cascade of robustness breakdown triggered by a decrease in systemic NAD+ biosynthesis and the resultant functional defects in susceptible organs and tissues.”⁶ Aging is marked by epigenetic shifts, genomic instability, altered nutrient sensing ability, telomere attrition, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion, and dysregulated intercellular communication.^7,8

By middle age, our NAD+ levels have plummeted to half that of our youth.⁹ Numerous studies have demonstrated that boosting NAD+ levels increases insulin sensitivity, reverses mitochondrial dysfunction, and extends lifespan.^10,11 NAD+ levels can be increased by activating enzymes that stimulate synthesis of NAD+, by inhibiting an enzyme (CD38) that degrades NAD+, and by supplementing with NAD precursors, including nicotinamide riboside(NR) and nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN).^12,13 A conceptual framework called NAD World, formulated over the last decade by developmental biologist Shin-ichiro Imai, MD, PhD, of Washington University School of Medicine, posits NMN as a critical, systemic signaling molecule that maintains biological robustness of the communication network supporting NAD+.⁶.

Are there vertebrates occupying the planet today whose lifespans extend back to before the founding of the United States? Based on recent research, it seems very likely — and they exist in the form of sharks whose fermented meat are used in a very distinctive Icelandic dish. Scientists have found evidence that Greenland sharks live for hundreds of years — and that there are some whose lifespans extend to 400 or even 500 years.

For some scientists, the lengthy lifespans of certain creatures can also have an impact on research into making humans live longer. That’s true for the immortal jellyfish, and it also applies to the Greenland shark. A recent article by Jonathan Moens at Atlas Obscura explores what scientists have learned from their studies of the long-lived sharks — and what it might mean for humanity.

Greenland sharks’ longevity could be chalked up to genetic or lifestyle factors, or some combination of the two. The University of Manchester’s Holly Shiels suggested that, as Moens writes, “Greenland sharks may have a uniquely sophisticated system to repair damaged DNA.” Other scientists point to the sharks’ habitat — cold Arctic waters — and their ability to live for a long period of time on a relatively small amount of food as signs of a very efficient metabolism.

A new book, published this week, explains where aging research is heading – and what you can do today to extend your healthspan. https://www.futuretimeline.net/.…/28-the-science-and…

Editorial reviews.

“A very compelling book.” —Ray Kurzweil, inventor and futurist.

Continue reading “The science and technology of growing young” »