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He is the first patient to receive an experimental gene therapy as part of a clinical trial. Earlier this week, Sangamo Therapeutics injected Madeux with viruses containing a package of gene-editing material, according to the AP. The hope is that these viruses will enter Madeux’s cells, specifically liver cells, inject the missing gene at the right place in his DNA. Only about 1% of the liver’s cells need to be fixed, and give his liver the ability to produce the enzyme he has been missing all his life.

Brian Madeux’s life hasn’t been easy. So far, he’s had 26 operations to fix problems in everything from hernias to eyes. He has a rare disease called Hunter syndrome, which is caused by the lack of a gene that’s used to produce an enzyme that breaks down certain carbohydrates. As a result, the carbohydrates build up in his body’s cells causing all sorts of problems.

There is no cure. One way to deal with some of the symptoms is to receive regular doses of the missing enzyme, which may cost him in the US between $100,000 and $400,000 per year. Even then, the enzyme won’t reverse the damage made already and it won’t stop further deterioration that happens in the brain.

Continue reading “Doctors are gene editing inside the body of a living human for the first time” | >

There is no doubt that the arrival of rejuvenation biotechnology will not only change how we age but also how society works. Eradicating age-related diseases will lead to challenges for our society but we should be positive about change and a healthier future.

A very useful skill you get from the study of mathematics is the ability to skim details off a special case of a concept and get to the general case, which is the essence common to all special cases. This skill, far from being useful only in maths and science, can be applied to a variety of situations, including—perhaps surprisingly—rejuvenation advocacy.

Think about common objections to rejuvenation: won’t it cause overpopulation? Won’t it make it impossible to pay the pensions? Won’t it make it harder for the young to find a job? Won’t it change our perception of older people and our idea of family?

The answers to these questions are more complicated than just yes or no, but this is not what we’re concerned with here. All of these questions above are special cases of a more general case.

Continue reading “Breaking the System – Rejuvenation and Social Change” | >

T Cells are a major component of the formidable immune system that the body keeps at the ready to respond to the first sign of infection or disease. T cells detect if cells have been infected with a virus; upon detection, they trigger these cells’ ablation and destroy the virus.

Unfortunately, the T cells do not detect cancer cells, as these cells use various tricks to fool the immune system into believing that they are normal healthy cells. Thus, they hide in plain sight, and the T cells cannot seek and destroy them. A new study has found a possible solution to this problem.

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When the discussion turned toward life exension, as a #libertarian Gubernatorial candidate, I suggested less regulation for science is the best way forward. Here’s in image of the panel and some links that discuss it: http://www.alkhaleej.ae/economics/page/cdaacb52-16f6&#45…1725b0869b & http://www.albayan.ae/economy/local-market/2017-11-13-1.3098274 & https://hamrinnews.

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The success of a novel gene therapy for blindness caused by a genetic mutation paves the way for gene therapies which treat other forms of blindness as well as genetic therapies which treat other diseases.

After being treated with a novel gene therapy for blindness, patients who had lost their sight due to a genetic retinal disease could see well enough to navigate a maze, according to research presented today at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO 2017).

Novel Gene Therapy for Blindness

Patients in the study had a form of blindness called Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), an inherited degenerative retinal disease characterized by severe loss of vision at birth. This novel gene therapy for blindness is currently under review by the FDA for potential approval. There are no other FDA-approved treatments available for inherited retinal diseases.

Continue reading “Gene Therapy for Blindness May Soon Be Reality” | >

Can growth hormone (HGH) boosting gene therapy rejuvenate our bodies without side effects? One man has already started self-experimenting with a novel gene therapy to boost his flagging levels of HGH.

Summary: HGH (human growth hormone) promises to be easily boosted by plasmid-based gene therapy. Moreover, implanting cells which generate growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) mimics the bodies natural processes of producing HGH and thus may rejuvenate our bodies without side effects. One man is already self-experimenting and using gene therapy to boost his flagging HGH levels. This article first appeared on LongevityFacts.com. Follow us on Google+ | Facebook | Reddit. Author: Brady Hartman.

Can human growth hormone (HGH) boosting gene therapy rejuvenate our bodies without side effects?

One man certainly thinks so and has already started experimenting using a novel method to boost his flagging levels of growth hormone.

Continue reading “Can We Rejuvenate Our Bodies with HGH Boosting Gene Therapy?” | >

A startup called Quantum Circuits plans to compete with the likes of IBM, Google, Microsoft, and Intel to bring quantum computing out of the lab and into the wider world. There’s one good reason to think it might be able to beat them all.

That’s because Quantum Circuits was founded by Robert Schoelkopf, a professor at Yale, whose work in many ways has helped kick-start this exciting new era of quantum advances.

Quantum computers exploit two strange features of quantum physics, entanglement and superposition, to process information in a fundamentally different way from traditional computers. The approach allows the power of such machines to scale dramatically with even just a few quantum bits, or qubits. Those racing to build practical quantum computers are nearing the point where quantum machines will be capable of doing things that no conventional machine could—an inflection point known as quantum supremacy.

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The world’s richest people have seen their share of the globe’s total wealth increase from 42.5% at the height of the 2008 financial crisis to 50.1% in 2017, or $140tn (£106tn), according to Credit Suisse’s global wealth report published on Tuesday.

At the other end of the spectrum, the world’s 3.5 billion poorest adults each have assets of less than $10,000 (£7,600). Collectively these people, who account for 70% of the world’s working age population, account for just 2.7% of global wealth.

Credit Suisse report highlights increasing gap between the super-rich and the remainder of the globe’s population.

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