Lifeboat Foundation

Will any of the show’s character ever pop up in a future ‘Star Wars’ series?

The unproven gene therapy aims to lengthen a person’s telomeres.

DNA damage, which results in genomic instability, is one of the primary hallmarks of aging. Today, we want to highlight an recent open access review that explores the DNA damage response during aging.

The role of DNA damage

Some researchers have long suggested that damage to our DNA is a major reason why we age and a strong determinant of species longevity; indeed, many-long lived species have extremely stable genomes, such as bristlecone pines, which have lifespans of over 5000 years.

A new open access paper takes a look at tryptophan and the role that it plays in the dysfunction of the immune system in the context of the age-related changes that occur in the microbiome [1].

The microbiome

The gut microbiome is a complex ecosystem of bacteria, archaea, eukarya, and viruses that live inside of us, some beneficial and some harmful, the balance of which keeps us alive. Four microbial phyla, Firmicutes, Bacteroides, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria, make up 98% of the total population of the intestinal microbiome.

Recently, the first attempt in the United States to use the gene editing tool CRISPR to combat cancer appears to have gone well, according to the initial results of a small human trial to determine safety for the approach.

Gene editing is a way to permanently change DNA in order to potentially cure a disease by attacking the root causes. CRISPR is a tool that can cut DNA at a specific spot, allowing genes to be removed or replaced or new genes to be inserted. CRISPR and other similar gene editing tools have long been used in the lab and are finally, after many years, starting to reach human trials for cancer and other diseases.

The approach involved doctors harvesting immune T cells from three cancer patients’ bloodstreams and modifying those cells with CRISPR to make them better able to detect and destroy cancer. Two of the patients have multiple myeloma, and the third has a sarcoma. Essentially, this therapy uses the body’s own immune cells to fight the disease rather than going with the traditional route of using drugs to disrupt the growth and spread of cancer.

Accelerating rejuvenation therapies to repair the damage of aging. Berlin, May 21 — 23.

Brevity is the soul of wit, but volume is what really gets you noticed.

Opaque solar panels could be turned into window glass for tall buildings by punching hundreds of tiny holes in them so our eyes perceive them as transparent.

The U.S. military wants soldiers that have superhuman eyesight, controllable augmented muscles that turn untrained novices into expert killers, and more.