Posted in aging, bioengineering, biotech/medical, business, defense, DNA, health, life extension, military, science
May is almost over, so it’s time to check in with the Ending Age-Released Diseases conference and see how things are developing with the event.
If you’re unfamiliar with us, we’re hosting our second annual conference at the Cooper Union in New York City on July 11-12th this year. It will feature some of the leading names in both aging research and biotech business and investment coming together to share their knowledge and insights with the audience.
Aging research is on the cusp of some major breakthroughs in the battle against age-related diseases, and we invite you to join us for an action-packed event filled with exciting talks and discussion panels featuring some of the leaders of aging research and the biotech business.
Is it me? Or am I the only one who wishes George Church was not so secretive? https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2019/05/rejuvenate-bio-using-g…dogs.html?
Harvard Genetics Giant Geroge Church and Noah Davidsohn, a former postdoc in his lab, have engaged in a secretive antiaging venture called Rejuvenate Bio. They are making old dogs new. They have conducted gene therapy on beagles and are currently advertising for Cavalier King Charles spaniels to use gene therapy to fix their hearts.
They have identified many other targets for gene-based interventions, studying a database of aging-related genes.
Most of the work was done in mice, where they have extended the life of mice by a factor of two. Nextbigfuture notes that this would mean mice would live 6 years with treatment instead of 3 years.
Where #Uber, Facebook, #Apple, #Microsoft, #Google, And #Amazon Are Investing In longevity and health span.
As Uber and Lyft grow their massive footprints, they are beginning to look towards the healthcare industry. Here’s what they’re doing in healthcare already and what they might do next.
In 2018, researchers at the Biogerontology Research Foundation and the International Longevity Alliance submitted a joint proposal to the World Health Organization to re-classify aging as a disease. Months later, 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) officially introduced some aging-related conditions such as age-associated cognitive decline.
This matters because, for the first time in human history, the once natural process of aging is becoming recontextualized as a condition to be treated and prevented. This will gradually lead to pharmaceutical companies and governments redirecting funding to new drugs and therapies that not only extend human life expectancy but reverse the effects of aging entirely.
Thus far, people in developed nations have seen their average life expectancy rise from ~35 in 1820 to 80 in 2003. And with the advances you’re about to learn about, you’ll see how that progression will continue until 80 becomes the new 40. In fact, the first humans expected to live to 150 may have already been born.
Besides biological immortality, there is also the possibility of digital immortality. The Human Connectome Project launched in 2010 aimed at mapping the entire human brain and to build its “network map” (connectome) to connect its structure to function and behaviour. Once the neural structure of the brain is completely deciphered, the mind can be uploaded into a computer that could control a robot that replicates a human in every respect.
The quest for eternal life is as old as humanity itself. “Grant us liberation from death for the sake of immortality, as the cucumber is severed from its bondage to the creeper”, runs one of the ancient Hindu prayers in the Mahamrityunjay, or the “great death-conquering” mantra. Death is the ultimate end, mysterious and terrible, against which even the strongest is powerless.
How to conquer death is a question every civilisation has tried to address. Myths have grown around immortal beings like gods in every culture, and of valiant but futile attempts of mortal men to attain immortality. But science may be closer to finding an answer to this ancient quest now more than ever before. In the early history of life, unicellular organisms like prokaryotes, protozoans and algae had ageless bodies and were immortal.
The advent of sexual reproduction boosted our chances of survival manifold. It also brought about ageing and death about a billion years ago. But Nature provides examples of immortality: a bacteria does not die naturally unless killed by an antibiotic or UV ray, strawberry plants clone themselves, and the tiny hydrozoans regenerate themselves to defy ageing and death. Cancer cells are also potentially immortal. But first let us be clear about the concept of immortality, which means defying death in order to live forever. But actually, what is ‘forever’? Around 1900, the average life expectancy in the world was only 31 years.
Can we, as adults, grow new neurons? Neuroscientist Sandrine Thuret says that we can, and she offers research and practical advice on how we can help our brains better perform neurogenesis—improving mood, increasing memory formation and preventing the decline associated with aging along the way.
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SAN LEANDRO (KPIX) — It is the stuff of science fiction and Hollywood movies. The promise: upon your death, your body is frozen until some future medical breakthrough restores you to full health.
Roughly 400 Americans — before they died — decided to bank on the possibility that this will happen. Their bodies are now being held at three facilities in the United States, including one in the East Bay.
“This is like a hospital,” explained Steve Garan, who took KPIX 5 reporter Juliette Goodrich on a tour of Trans Time, a Bay Area Cryonics facility in San Leandro.
