Lifeboat Foundation

What are the bottlenecks in developing a rejuvenation biotechnology industry? LEAF takes a look at some of the main problems we are facing in creating that industry.

One of the most frequent questions we get from the general public is when will rejuvenation therapies arrive? Whilst young people can wait for a few more decades, those in middle age are much more concerned. According to statistics, new drug development takes 17 years on average, but the countdown only begins at the moment when the underlying mechanisms are investigated well enough – which cannot be said about the mechanisms of aging.

We have made great progress in understanding aging in the last decade thanks to the march of technology. One solution to an aging process is entering human clinical trials this year: a therapy to remove aged damaged cells to promote tissue repair and reduce chronic inflammation. This is of course fantastic news but progress is still too slow.

Continue reading “Bottlenecks to the Development of Rejuvenation Biotechnology” »

• Researchers have discovered that a compound in the mucus found on the back of a frog can cause flu virus particles to explode.
• If they can harness this compound, called urumin, they may be able to create a universal flu vaccine.

A compound in the mucus found on the oozy backs of a South Indian frog — known locally as a germ killer — can cause flu virus particles to explode. Researchers at Emory University have discovered that the compound, a peptide they’ve called urumin, is potent, yet precise, and capable of destroying an entire class of flu viruses while other cells and even other viruses emerge unscathed. Unlike other frog-based compounds, urumin is uniquely nontoxic, another unusual feature that makes it more promising from a therapeutic standpoint.

Robots may soon be more sensitive than humans—at least when it comes to their skin. Researchers from Glasgow University have developed a type of artificial skin that is more sensitive than our own. Just add this to all the ways robots are taking over the world.

Related: A Robot Performed Soft-Tissue Surgery By Itself

One of the greatest ethical debates in science — manipulating the fundamental building blocks of life — is set to heat up once more.

According to scientists behind an ambitious and controversial plan to write the human genome from the ground up, synthesising DNA and incorporating it into mammalian and even human cells could be as little as four to five years away.

Nearly 200 leading researchers in genetics and bioengineering are expected to attend a meeting in New York City next week, to discuss the next stages of what is now called the Genome Project-write (GP-write) plan: a US$100 million venture to research, engineer, and test living systems of model organisms, including the human genome.

Continue reading “Tensions Flare as Scientists Go Public With Plan to Build Synthetic Human DNA” »

New research in multiple mouse types and human cell lines shows senolytics helps mitigate osteoarthritis.

The removal of senescent cells has shown further potential for the treatment of osteoarthritis in this recent publication where the researchers reduce the impact of post injury osteoarthritis by clearing senescent cells[1]. As we have discussed many times in our publications, senescent cells are a key player in the aging process, if you are new to the subject and want to know what senescent cells are here is a quick primer.

What are senescent cells?

Continue reading “Treating Osteoarthritis” »

I’m giving a speech this morning in San Diego on #transhumanism. If you’re at this medical device conference, please come listen and say hello after the talk:

The 10x Medical Device Conference is an annual, in-person reuinion for the Medical Devices Group, the world’s largest medical device community.

The push to find exercise memetics continues.

Every week, there seems to be another story about the health benefits of running. That’s great—but what if you can’t run? For the elderly, obese or otherwise mobility-limited, the rewards of aerobic exercise have long been out of reach.

Continue reading “‘Exercise-in-a-pill’ boosts athletic endurance” »

The CellAge project hosted last year with Lifespan.io has now joined up with Michael Greve and Kizoo to develop this technology. Community support for the project has helped move the project foward and will hopefully speed up progress as a result.

April 2017, Edinburgh. CellAge Limited (“CellAge”) has raised a seed round backed by Michael Greve´s Kizoo Technology Capital and a group of angel investors.

CellAge, a privately held synthetic biology start-up aiming to develop tools and therapies for age-related diseases, has successfully completed a seed fundraising round. In this round Kizoo Technology Capital and a number of angel investors have joined the effort to develop synthetic promoters which will make senescent cells identification and removal safer and more efficient. To achieve this, CellAge is planning to analyze transcriptional profiles of a wide range of senescent cell types using proprietary algorithm and construct novel promoters from candidate regulatory elements identified in this screen. The joint expertise in senescence, synthetic biology and bioinformatics gives CellAge a unique angle on improving ways how gene therapies could be targeted to senescent cells.

Researchers have developed an artificial womb to sustain the life of premature babies. That womb just proved successful in animal testing for the first time. This advance could radically transform the lives of millions of premature infants around the world.

The wombs look like nothing too spectacular. They appear more like oversized plastic bags with tubes and fluids rather than the Huxleyan tube babies of science fiction. However, eight of these external womb Biobags held a fetal lamb. During the growth, the lambs developed as their brain, lungs, and other vital organs grew. They grew wool. They even moved about and twitched. A few of the lambs have now grown into adulthood.

Continue reading “This Artificial Womb Just Successfully Grew a Sheep, Humans Could Be Next” »