The fourth Lifespan.io campaign and CellAge are using synthetic biology to create an accurate aging biomarker for senescent cells and a new therapy for precision targeting of those problem cells. Senescent cells are one of the processes of aging and this could change the way we age.
Lifespan.io is proud to present our fourth rejuvenation biotechnology project!
As we age our bodies accumulate damage in the form of dysfunctional cells that have entered a state called “senescence”, which secrete toxic signals that can lead to chronic inflammation, higher rates of cancer and additional aging-related conditions.
By observing the transparent cells of roundworms, researchers have uncovered a link between lifespan and the natural cellular process of RNA splicing.
This research could lead to new breakthroughs in anti-aging treatments that would allow humans to indefinitely keep ourselves healthy, stalling death for as long as possible.
Though aging seems like one of the most natural things, an affair common to all living creatures, the process is actually poorly understood by scientists. A new study detailed in Nature aims to shed light on the phenomenon as a research team led by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has uncovered a relationship between lifespan and RNA splicing, a core function of cells that allows a single gene to produce a variety of proteins.
The researchers already knew that mutations in RNA splicing could lead to disease, but they wanted to find out if the act of splicing itself had an impact on the aging process. To find out, they designed experimental setups using the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, which show visible signs of aging during their short three-week lifespan.
Infertile women have been offered new hope after scientists found that a common cancer drug triggers the development of new eggs, an outcome which was previously thought to be impossible.
In a discovery hailed as “astonishing”, researchers at the University of Edinburgh proved it is possible to reverse the clock and coax the ovaries back into a pre-pubescent state where they begin to produce new eggs.
Women are born with all their eggs, which is why conceiving becomes harder with age, because the eggs grow old, become damaged and eventually run out entirely.
The full antiaging rejuvenation toolkit of the next few decades will consist of a range of different treatments, each targeting a different type of molecular damage in cells and tissues. Fightaging predicts the likely order of arrival of some of these therapies, based on what is presently going on in research, funding, and for-profit development.
1) Clearance of Senescent Cells
Everon Biosciences, Oisin Biotechnologies, SIWA Therapeutics, and UNITY Biotechnology are all forging ahead with various different approaches to the selective destruction of senescent cells. No doubt many groups within established Big Pharma entities are also taking a stab at this, more quietly, and with less press attention. UNITY Biotechnology has raised more than $100 million to date, demonstrating that there is broad enthusiasm for this approach to the treatment of aging and age-related disease.
Please support SENS Research on Amazon Smile this Christmas smile
Dont forget you can help SENS Research Foundation even during your Christmas shopping this year! Using Amazon Smile you can buy your gifts in the normal way but Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to us whenever you shop on AmazonSmile. bigsmile
The weekend is here so let’s kick it off with a great talk by Dr. Aubrey de Grey at TED in 2014.
Biotechnologist Aubrey de Grey talks about aging as a disease — and how it can be cured.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
Nathaniel David from Unity Biotech giving a talk about the potential of Senolytics and how science can break the natural limit to lifespan. David is the CEO of Unity Biotechnology a company taking SENS based Senolytic drugs into human clinical trials in the next year or so. Very exciting as this is the first true rejuvenation biotechnology therapy to be deployed in humans.
Unity is leading the way for the first rejuvenation technologies in the #sens model. Here we have Nathaniel David from Unity talking about the potential of Senolytics and increased lifespans.
Unity Biotechnology is one of a number of companies developing Senolytic therapies to clear senescent cells from the body and they will no doubt be joined by them in the future a sure sign of the rising interestin the field.
A look back at one of the milestones for SRF and the first successful fundraiser on Lifespan.io for MitoSENS.
We need your support at this critical juncture of the MitoSENS project. The MitoSENS team has already demonstrated the rescue of cells containing mitochondrial mutations, and has recently generated highly promising preliminary data showing the rescue of the complete loss of a mitochondrial gene. Our next steps will focus on improving the effectiveness of the targeting system, so that we can repeat our success with one mitochondrial gene to all thirteen. We will then transition this work into animal models of mitochondrial dysfunction. This would be a crucial step in what may be the development of an eventual cure for aging and aging related diseases.
We have a talented team of highly trained mitochondrial biologists working on MitoSENS. Right now the rate-limiting factor is the cost of the expensive reagents that we use for these experiments. Increasing our funding with this campaign will allow us to double the pace of our research and bring results to the public that much faster. We have made preliminary progress on rescuing function with a second gene, ATP6, and your support will help us perfect our targeting of both ATP8 and ATP6. This requires more cells, more viruses, and many new synthetic gene sequences. Specifically, we will spend your generous donations on cell culture reagents, oxygen consumption measurements, virus production, quantitative reverse transcription PCR, DNA synthesis services, and publication of our results in a peer-reviewed journal.
Vote for senolytics and help get aging research into public view.
Please VOTE NOW for senescent cell removal (The purge that refreshes) and help make aging research the science breakthrough of the year and get rejuvenation biotechnology into the public eye.
