Lifeboat Foundation

McMaster University researcher Sheila Singh and her team have discovered how glioblastoma, a lethal brain cancer, can evade treatments and kill.

The researchers found the cancer cells that survive the first round of radiotherapy or chemotherapy do so by mutating during the post-treatment minimal residual disease (MRD) or dormant state. The MRD profile of each patient was mapped using single cell sequencing to find a genetic signature that predicted how the cancer would recur in each individual.

Singh said that by mapping the MRD, researchers found that each patient had a different trajectory to their cancer recurring, potentially opening the door to future treatments tailored to each individual with glioblastoma. Singh’s team monitored five patients between 2018 and 2022.

Powered by data produced by its AI-driven discovery platform, clinical-stage biotech BioAge Labs is rapidly developing a pipeline of therapies to extend healthy lifespan by targeting the molecular causes of aging. Having raised more than $120 million in funding, and with multiple clinical trials already under its belt, the company is focused on building a broad pipeline of potential longevity therapies in three main areas: muscle, immune, and brain aging.

Longevity. Technology: There are few companies in the longevity biotech field that appear to be executing on their vision as quickly and consistently as BioAge. When the company wowed the sector with a $90 million funding round in 2020, talk of multiple imminent clinical trials may have sounded optimistic to some, but BioAge has delivered on its promise time and again. Beyond the trials already underway, the company’s much-vaunted AI discovery platform also appears to be churning out the data, this year spawning a new programme exploring the potential of NLRP3 inhibitors in brain aging. To learn more, we caught up with BioAge co-founder and CEO Kristen Fortney.

Looking back at 2022, Fortney says it has been “immensely gratifying” to see so many new companies and investors coming into the longevity field.

In this #webinar, Dr Vincenzo Sorrentino from the Department of Biochemistry and Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, shared about his research on the relationship between metabolism, nutrition and proteostasis and their impact on health and ageing, and engaged in discussion about the role of mitochondrial proteostasis in ageing and related diseases.

Register for upcoming #HealthyLongevity #webinar sessions at https://nus-sg.zoom.us/webinar/register/7916395807744/WN__sypkX6ZSomc7cGAkK3LbA

Continue reading “Targeting the mitochondria-proteostasis connection in ageing and disease | Dr Vincenzo Sorrentino” »

In recent years, social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook have become a powerful force for social change, allowing individuals to connect and mobilize on a global scale like never before. But what if we could take the capabilities of social media to an even…

Microsoft may provide Office users a way to write text for projects, by incorporating AI technology from OpenAI into its apps.

AI has become more prevalent in creative fields over time, with tools like Stable Diffusion creating artworks from simple prompts. It now seems that Microsoft is considering using that same technology to help its customers put words on a page or a presentation.

According to a source with direct knowledge of Microsoft’s plans speaking to The Information, Microsoft wants to incorporate artificial intelligence created by OpenAI into Word, Outlook, Powerpoint, and other apps.

The research team reconstructed an ancestral enzyme by searching databases for corresponding modern enzymes, using the obtained sequences to calculate the original sequence, and introducing the corresponding gene sequence into lab bacteria to produce the desired protein. The enzyme was then studied in detail and compared to modern enzymes.

The research team, led by Professors Mario Mörl and Sonja Prohaska, focused on enzymes called tRNA nucleotidyltransferases, which attach three nucleotide building blocks in the sequence C-C-A to small RNAs (transfer RNAs) in cells. These RNAs are subsequently used to supply amino acids.

<div class=””> <div class=””><br />Amino acids are a set of organic compounds used to build proteins. There are about 500 naturally occurring known amino acids, though only 20 appear in the genetic code. Proteins consist of one or more chains of amino acids called polypeptides. The sequence of the amino acid chain causes the polypeptide to fold into a shape that is biologically active. The amino acid sequences of proteins are encoded in the genes. Nine proteinogenic amino acids are called “essential” for humans because they cannot be produced from other compounds by the human body and so must be taken in as food.<br /></div> </div>

According to a recent study conducted by scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, ships may be contributing to the spread of a deadly coral disease called stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) throughout Florida and the Caribbean.

This disease, which was first detected near Miami in 2014, has now impacted coral reefs in Jamaica, St. Maarten, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Belize, among other locations. The findings of this study may help researchers to develop testing and treatment methods that can reduce the risk of further disease transmission.

Researchers suggest that transport through ship hulls, where the vessel takes on ballast water in one region to keep it stable and releases it at a different port, may have contributed to disease spread.

Microsoft has revealed the tactics used by KeRanger, FileCoder, MacRansom, and EvilQuest, all targeting macOS systems.

Aging appears to progress similarly across species, from worms and flies to mice and humans, and involves pathways related to early development. Guest Linda Partridge talks with Gordon while visiting the Buck Institute to discuss the evolutionary trade offs of aging mechanisms, the role of nutrient-sensing pathways, and how we might get the most benefit from preventative interventions in midlife.

Linda Partridge, born in 1950 in Bath, England, studied and graduated in biology at the University of Oxford. After three years of postdoctoral research at the University of York, she was Demonstrator, Lecturer, Reader and finally Professor at the University of Edinburgh. After many years in Scotland, in 1994 she became Professor of Biometry, University College London. She is both a founding director of the new Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne and Director of the UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing. Linda Partridge’s research is directed to understanding both how the rate of aging evolves in nature and the mechanisms by which healthy lifespan can be extended in laboratory model organisms. Her work has focussed in particular on the role of nutrient-sensing pathways, such as the insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling pathway, and on dietary restriction.