Lifeboat Foundation

In Brief

• By observing the transparent cells of roundworms, researchers have uncovered a link between lifespan and the natural cellular process of RNA splicing.
• This research could lead to new breakthroughs in anti-aging treatments that would allow humans to indefinitely keep ourselves healthy, stalling death for as long as possible.

Though aging seems like one of the most natural things, an affair common to all living creatures, the process is actually poorly understood by scientists. A new study detailed in Nature aims to shed light on the phenomenon as a research team led by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has uncovered a relationship between lifespan and RNA splicing, a core function of cells that allows a single gene to produce a variety of proteins.

The researchers already knew that mutations in RNA splicing could lead to disease, but they wanted to find out if the act of splicing itself had an impact on the aging process. To find out, they designed experimental setups using the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, which show visible signs of aging during their short three-week lifespan.

Continue reading “A New Aging Discovery Could Allow Humans to Extend Their Lifespan” »

Hemophilia is a devastating genetic condition—without the ability to form blood clots, those who have it risk bleeding to death from even the slightest cut.

Great.

Research published in Acta Neuropathologica, identified alterations in a protein known as ATRX in human brain tumours; researchers might also be able to target microRNAs directly, altering their levels to make cancer cells less likely to form tumours.

A recent study suggests that two recently discovered genetic differences between brain cancer cells and normal tissue cells could offer clues to tumour behaviour and potential new targets for therapy.

Continue reading “Research sets new target for brain cancer therapy” »

DARPA scientists think they can use insects to deliver genetic changes to crops.

These desktop gadgets should make DIY genetic engineering much easier.

Harvard bioethics specialist Glenn Cohen considers the complex question of whether humans should mix their genetic material with other animals to create chimeras.

More on the cell circuited technology that will deprive cancer cells of oxygen.

Imagine having cells in your body that can actively repel cancer in a way that makes it theoretically impossible for you to suffer from it.

Researchers at the U.K.’s University of Southampton…have engineered cells with a so-called “built-in genetic circuit” capable of producing a molecule for inhibiting the ability of tumors to grow and survive in the body.

Continue reading “Building ‘genetic circuits’ in cells could kill tumors” »

The CLONED dogs of war: Russia unveils genetically-enhanced canines which will work with Putin’s Special Forces and were created by scientist attempting to restore woolly mammoths

• The three Belgian Malinois were cloned by a South Korean professor
• He also aims to one day restore extinct woolly mammoths to Siberia
• Dr Hwang Woo Suk gifted the dogs — each valued at $100,000 — to police
• The will be used in Yakutia, the coldest inhabited region in the world

By Will Stewart In Moscow for MailOnline

Continue reading “Russia unveils CLONE DOGS that will work with Putin’s Special Forces” »

A look back at one of the milestones for SRF and the first successful fundraiser on Lifespan.io for MitoSENS.

We need your support at this critical juncture of the MitoSENS project. The MitoSENS team has already demonstrated the rescue of cells containing mitochondrial mutations, and has recently generated highly promising preliminary data showing the rescue of the complete loss of a mitochondrial gene. Our next steps will focus on improving the effectiveness of the targeting system, so that we can repeat our success with one mitochondrial gene to all thirteen. We will then transition this work into animal models of mitochondrial dysfunction. This would be a crucial step in what may be the development of an eventual cure for aging and aging related diseases.

Continue reading “Mitochondrial Repair Project” »