Lifeboat Foundation

In our ongoing search to continuously improve our health, we occasionally pay lip service to the bacteria that live inside our gut. Normally this concern rarely manifests as anything more than occasionally remembering to buy some of those small bottles of pro-biotic yoghurts while shopping for your…

Recent discoveries have led to the conclusion that the gut plays an important role in cognitive function, with a large amount of research into understanding what is known as the gut-brain axis, which is the collective name given to the biochemical signalling pathways which take place between the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system. With an ever-increasing understanding of this pathway, along with an expanded understand of the gut flora (which was found to decline with age), researchers started to ask how the gut flora are involved in the ageing process.

In order to test how exactly ageing gut flora effects the gut-brain axis, researchers at the University of East Anglia conducted a faecal transplant from elderly mice into younger mice. Following this transplant, the young mice were then put through a serious of tests to assess their cognitive abilities. The younger mice showed significant changes in their microbial profiles, as well as significantly impaired capacity for spatial learning, as well as a decreased capacity for memorisation. These mice also showed an altered expression of proteins associated with neurotransmission and neuroplasticity, along with changes in the mice’s hippocampus, which is responsible for allowing the mice to memories new information, as well as recalling previous memories.

Continue reading “Faecal transplantation: the cure for forgetfulness?” »

To begin with, why do we use mice in medical and biological research? The answer to this question is fairly straight forward. Mice are cheap, they grow quickly, and the public rarely object to experimentations involving mice. However, mice offer something that is far more important than simple pragmatism, as despite being significantly smaller and externally dissimilar to humans, our two species share an awful lot of similarities. Almost every gene found within mice share functions with genes found within humans, with many genes being essentially identical (with the obvious exception of genetic variation found within all species). This means that anatomically mice are remarkably similar to humans.

Now, this is where for the sake of clarity it would be best to break down biomedical research into two categories. Physiological research and pharmaceutical research, as the success of the mouse model should probably be judges separately depending upon the research that is being carried out. Separating the question of the usefulness of the mouse model down into these two categories also solves the function of more accurately focusing the ire of its critics.

The usefulness of the mouse model in the field of physiological research is largely unquestioned at this point. We have quite literally filled entire textbooks with the information we have gained from studying mice, especially in the field of genetics and pathology. The similarities between humans and mice are so prevalent that it is in fact possible to create functioning human/mouse hybrids, known as ‘genetically engineered mouse models’ or ‘GEMMs’. Essentially, GEMMs are mice that have had the mouse version of a particular gene replaced with its human equivalent. This is an exceptionally powerful tool for medical research, and has led to numerous medical breakthroughs, including most notably our current treatment of acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL), which was created using GEMMs.

Aging, DNA Repair, And Clinical Innovation — Dr. Morten Scheibye-Knudsen — University of Copenhagen.

Dr. Morten Scheibye-Knudsen is an Associate Professor at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, and at the Center for Healthy Aging (CEHA), at the University of Copenhagen.

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Famed longevity pioneer Aubrey de Grey, Chief Science Officer of SENS Research Foundation, joins Geoffrey Woo, Founder and Chairman of Health Via Modern Nutrition Inc., for an enlightening conversation about advances in longevity, the investments and technologies that extend life, and the challenges and opportunities of a world in which people live longer. He walks us through his damage repair therapies with a focus on rejuvenation, prevention, and wearable technologies. Filmed on May 17, 2021. To continue the discussion with fellow Real Vision members on this interview, click here to visit the Exchange: https://rvtv.io/2T7nqZL

Key Learnings: Longevity escape velocity, which is a term de Grey coined, is the idea in which life expectancy is extended longer than the time that is passing, and he estimates a 50% chance that aging could be brought under medical control in as little as 15 years’ time. To learn more about SENS’ research and advancements, please visit their site here: https://www.sens.org/.

Rapamycin has been proven to extend the lifespan of mice, warms and yeast. Lifespan.io is starting a large clinical trial named Participatory Evaluation (of) Aging (with) Rapamycin (for) Longevity Study, or PEARL, to see if the antiaging effects of Rapamycin apply to humans. This will be the first study to see if Rapamycin works as well in humans as it does in mice.

The PEARL trial will follow up to 200 participants over 12 months testing four different Rapamycin dosing regimens. It will be double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled and registered with clinicaltrials.gov. The principal investigator is Dr. James P Watson at UCLA, who was also a PI for the famous TRIIM trial.

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Attempting to model the universe as precisely as possible is to try to see the one thing that even the strictest atheist agrees is everlasting.

Interesting as I recall Aubrey lamenting that he had met Bezos several times over the years but never got a dime from him. Also I wonder where he would put the cash. Just donor all h by is SENS? Pick a company like Age-x?

Jeff Bezos is said to get into the Longevity Industry next month according to Aubrey De Grey. Having a billionaire invest into finding a cure for aging is both amazing and worrisome.
The field of longevity research was long underfunded but recently, with more and more results coming in, investors like Jeff Bezos are getting more and more interested in the field.

Continue reading “Jeff Bezos wants to LIVE FOREVER — Aubrey De Grey: Secret Longevity Investor” »

Hey guys — you might like this interview I did with Alex Steele about counter-ageing and the quest for biological immortality (focused around his new book ‘Ageless: The New Science of Getting Old Without Getting Older’. If you do very grateful for any subs to help support the channel!

I speak with Andrew Steele; author, scientist and anti-ageing campaigner about his book Ageless: The New Science of Getting Old Without Getting Older”. Interview covers why humans age, the growing anti-ageing movement, scientific progress over the past decade and potential anti-ageing treatments.

Continue reading “Is Ageing a disease and can it be CURED? Andrew Steele interview” »

The Latest Research

Two active forms of vitamin B12 offer support to the aging brain. Preclinical data shows one of the forms protects dopamine levels.

By Michael Downey.