Lifeboat Foundation

We estimated associations between measured telomere length (TL) and several aging outcomes by using TL‐associated inherited genetic variants, which are robust to later environmental exposures (confou…

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Results from the new study, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) have shown that telomerase is reactivated in normal adult cells at the latter stage of cell aging, and this activity reduces the potential for DNA damage that could lead cells to become cancerous. “This study reshapes the current understanding of telomerase’s function in normal cells,” said Kan Cao, PhD, an associate professor of cell biology and molecular genetics at UMD, who is senior author of the study. “Our work shows, for the first time, that there is a role for telomerase in adult cells beyond promoting tumor formation.

University of Maryland-led team found that telomerase, which immortalizes cancer cells, also prevents tumors and slows a key stage in normal cell death.

Age-related changes to the signals sent and received by our cells travelling via the bloodstream are one of the hallmarks of aging. A team of researchers, including Drs. Irina and Michael Conboy, has published the results of a new study suggesting that rejuvenation might be achieved by the calibration of these signals found in the blood [1].

The search for rejuvenation

The Conboys had done earlier research in joining of the circulatory systems between young and old animals, a process known as parabiosis, and they showed that tissue aging was not a one-way street and could be rapidly reversed in a matter of weeks, given access to the beneficial signaling from the younger animal [2].

Scientists have identified the mechanism that lets geckos regrow severed limbs, and they may get it to work in humans.

This makes for a microcosm of people on the outside looking in who do not follow on a regular basis. A basic headline of living forever followed by comments of doubt or silliness and the heat death of the universe. Of the experts, I like Sinclair’s answer best.

What do hideous mall t-shirts, emo bands from the mid-aughts, and gorgeously-wrought realist novels about dissolving marriages have in common? Simply this assertion: Life Sucks. And it does suck, undoubtedly, even for the happiest and/or richest among us, not one of whom is immune from heartbreak, hemorrhoids, or getting mercilessly ridiculed online.

Still, at certain points in life’s parade of humiliation and physical decay almost all of us feel a longing—sometimes fleeting, sometimes sustained—for it to never actually end. The live-forever impulse is, we know, driving all manner of frantic, crackpot-ish behavior in the fringier corners of the tech-world; but will the nerds really pull through for us on this one? What are our actual chances, at this moment in time, of living forever? For this week’s Giz Asks, we spoke with a number of experts to find out.

It’s once again time for our customary appointment with a monthly recap of the most interesting news from the world of aging and rejuvenation research. Interviews and talks from our July conference, as well as from UA2019, are being published, and new events and initiatives are popping up around the world; slowly but steadily, the field is unquestionably picking up.

LEAF News

We will soon learn if a much-hyped, rapamycin-like drug can boost the immune response by targeting how the body ages.

A simple treatment to stave off the health problems of old age could be available in five to 12 years. Here’s how it would work.