Lifeboat Foundation

Excerpt of an interview made in May 2021 by “Richard”, who runs the Modern Healthspan YouTube Channel, to George Church, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), among many other responsibilities as a hardwork geneticist.

In this segment, George Church gives his view on whether age reversal in humans and LEV may be achieved during his lifetime.

Continue reading “George Church views on Human Age Reversal and LEV (videoclip con S/T en Español)” »

The mouse study even offers a possible explanation as to why: Childhood infections may cause the body to over-express genes that code for microglia, the central nervous system’s primary immune cells. That, in turn, can affect brain development, which could be at play in some traits commonly associated with autism, such as difficulty communicating verbally or recognizing familiar faces.

So the researchers experimented with drugs that target microglia, and found that they not only prevented those social issues in adult mice — they might have reversed them.

Among boys genetically predisposed to autism, a severe childhood infection could make that diagnosis more likely.

On Wednesday, researchers revealed the first evidence that the approach appears to be working — improving vision for at least some patients with the condition, known as Leber congenital amaurosis, or LCA, a severe form of vision impairment.

So doctors genetically modified a harmless virus to ferry the CRISPR gene editor and infused billions of the modified viruses into the retinas of Knight’s left eye and Kalberer’s right eye, as well as one eye of five other patients. The procedure was done on only one eye just in case something went wrong. The doctors hope to treat the patients’ other eye after the research is complete.

Once the CRISPR was inside the cells of the retinas, the hope was that it would cut out the genetic mutation causing the disease, restoring vision by reactivating the dormant cells.

Continue reading “A Gene-Editing Experiment Let These Patients With Vision Loss See Color Again” »

A large, UK-based study of genetics and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been suspended, following criticism that it failed to properly consult the autism community about the goals of the research. Concerns about the study include fears that its data could potentially be misused by other researchers seeking to ‘cure’ or eradicate ASD.

Study aimed at collecting DNA from 10,000 people with autism and their families has drawn criticism for failing to consult the autism community.

The ZyCoV-D vaccine is also the world’s first DNA vaccine against Covid-19.

Like other vaccines, a DNA vaccine, once administered, teaches the body’s immune system to fight the real virus.

ZyCoV-D uses plasmids — or small rings of DNA that contain genetic information — to deliver the jab between two layers of the skin.

Continue reading “Zydus Cadila: What we know about India’s new Covid vaccines” »

The Israeli mask company Sonovia has released a report from a leading Italian textile-testing laboratory showing that its fabric eliminates the COVID-19 Delta variant particles with over 99.95% effectiveness.

The lab is next expected to test the fabric against the MU strain, which carries several mutations to the spike gene, and is labeled a “variant of interest” by the World Health Organization, said Sonovia Chief Technology Officer Liat Goldhammer-Steinberg.

The MU strain has not yet entered Israel, according to any official reports, but Health Ministry officials have warned of its potential negative impact.

Continue reading “Israeli mask 99.95% protective against Delta strain, European lab says” »

Discoveries by Deisseroth and his two co-recipients regarding microbial light-activated molecules led to his development of a way to manipulate selected neurons in living animals to observe changes in their behavior.

“Our study points to sex-and environment-specific effects of a common genetic variant. In the mice, we observed that Ghrd3 leads to a ‘female-like’ expression pattern of dozens of genes in male livers under calorie restriction, which potentially leads to the observed size reduction,” Saitou says.

“Females, already smaller in size, may suffer from negative evolutionary consequences if they lose body weight. Thus, it is a reasonable and also very interesting hypothesis that a genetic variant that may affect response to nutritional stress has evolved in a sex-specific manner,” Mu says.

A new study delves into the evolution and function of the human growth hormone receptor gene, and asks what forces in humanity’s past may have driven changes to this vital piece of DNA.

Continue reading “In a gene tied to growth, scientists see glimmers of human history” »

Leave it to the Japanese to come up with technology-induced fruit

A Tokyo-based startup called Sanatech Seed Co. teamed up with scientists at the University of Tsukuba to develop a new variety of tomatoes with the help of CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology. The result was a Sicilian Rouge High GABA which contains high levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an amino acid that is believed to have lower blood pressure and help in relaxation.

The company was able to add high levels of GABA by removing an inhibitory domain within the tomato’s genome to enable the high production of GABA. According to Shimpei Takeshita, President of Sanatech Seed and Chief Innovation Officer of Pioneer EcoScience, the company was given permission to commercialize the genetically altered Sicilian Rouge GABA variety last December. The contract farmers had been growing them ever since and now these tomatoes are finally ready to hit the stores and become a useful product.