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Category: life extension

“Micro-managing” immune activation and protein turnover: microglial lysosomes in the context of health and disease

Microglial lysosomes immune activation and protein turnover.

In addition to its role in protein and organelle homeostasis, lysosomes are also involved in nutrient sensing, cell metabolism, immune response, and programmed cell death.

Lysosomes are heterogeneous subpopulations and their dysfunction has been associated with the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases.

Although lysosomal biogenesis, transport, and heterogeneity are well studied in neurons, the researchers in this review discuss microglial lysosome biology its regulation, composition, and function, and how these properties are linked to immune activation, aging, and certain disease pathologies. sciencenewshighlights Science Mission https://sciencemission.com/microglial-lysosomes

Npj Dementia — “Micro-managing” immune activation and protein turnover: microglial lysosomes in the context of health and disease. npj Dement. 2, 35 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44400-026-00086-8

Russia Develops ‘Anti-Aging Vaccine’ Targeting Cellular Aging

Russia is developing what officials have described as a “vaccine against aging,” a gene therapy drug aimed at slowing cellular aging by blocking a receptor linked to age-related changes in the body, the deputy science minister said Thursday.

Denis Sekirinsky, Russia’s deputy science and higher education minister, said the experimental treatment would target the RAGE receptor, which he said triggers cellular aging when activated.

“The RAGE gene is a receptor whose activation launches the aging of the cell. Blocking this gene, on the contrary, can prolong its youth,” Sekirinsky said at a healthy longevity conference in the Volga city of Saransk, according to the state-run TASS news agency.

Women’s immune systems show bigger age-related changes than men’s, study reveals

Statistics show clear differences in the population’s immune system according to sex: men are more susceptible to infections and cancers, while women have stronger immune responses, which translate, for example, into better responses to vaccines. Even so, with a more reactive immune system, the probability of the body attacking itself also increases, causing 80% of autoimmune disease development to occur in women.

In this context, understanding the aging of the immune system is key since, with age, the composition of immune cells changes and their protective functions deteriorate, causing a greater susceptibility to diseases. However, understanding how sex influences this profound transformation was not possible until now.

A new study by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center—Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) published today in Nature Aging demonstrated, for the first time, that immunological aging follows different dynamics between men and women, identifying the cells and genes responsible for the process, and providing a molecular explanation for the differences that previously were only observed globally in the population.

Perovskite solar cells skip yellow phase, degrade more slowly with key additives

Halide perovskites are gaining ground on silicon as a critical material for solar cell technologies: A new study published in the journal Science reports a method to make perovskite-based photovoltaics more durable, allowing the films to attain the desirable black phase of crystal configuration quicker and at lower temperatures while also making it harder to degrade into the inactive yellow phase.

Perovskites are solution-processable materials and can be readily processed as a solution or deposited as vapor. By mixing two key ingredients in the precursor solution, Rice University chemical engineer Aditya Mohite and collaborators have developed perovskite crystalline films that retain 98% of their initial efficiency even after 1,200 hours of exposure under open-circuit voltage conditions to accelerate aging at 90 degrees Celsius (194 degrees Fahrenheit).

The two additives used were a two-dimensional perovskite, which served as a template to guide crystal growth, and formamidinium chloride, a salt molecule that regulates crystallization and has the optimal size to sustain the atomic bonds in the crystal in the right configuration. The two additives create compressive strain in the lattice, driving the formation of the black perovskite phase and stabilizing it, while also steering degradation toward a harder-to-form phase, significantly improving durability.

“An Update from the Sparks Brain Preservation” — April 30th Service

Our speaker this month is Jordan Sparks with the Sparks Brain Preservation organization in Oregon. Our event is in ZOOM Only, no in person meeting this month, meeting ins ZOOM on Thursday, April 30th, opening at 6:00 PM for our social hour, with the main event starting at 7:00 PM Eastern Time Jordan will tell us about his project, which was formerly the Oregon Brain Preservation, and before that Jordan formed Oregon Cryonics. This is an entirely different type of bio-stasis then cryonics. Their stated goal is to preserve the structure of the entire brain at a fine ultrastructural level. This includes the synaptic architecture as well as detailed molecular information such as protein post-translational modifications, cellular epigenetic patterns, and subcellular distributions of molecules.

Not all Alzheimer’s leads to dementia

One possible explanation is that resilient brains are better at repairing themselves during Alzheimer’s. “Perhaps they can add new brain cells to a network that is degenerating”, the author says.

This idea is linked to a process called adult neurogenesis, which refers to the birth of new brain cells (neurons) in the adult brain. It has been well-established in other animals, but its existence in humans has been debated for years.

To study this, the team used human brain tissue from the Netherlands Brain Bank, which collects and stores donated brain samples for research. They included brains from control donors with no brain pathology, Alzheimer’s patients, and individuals with Alzheimer’s pathology who remained resilient to developing dementia.

The team focused on a small part of the brain’s memory center, likely one of the few areas where these new brain cells could form. “These cells are extremely rare, so we had to develop new ways to find them,” the author says. “We really zoomed in on the exact spot where we expected them to be.”

The team found what they were looking for: so-called “immature” neurons. These cells resemble young, not fully developed neurons. “Even at an average age of over 80, we still found these immature neurons in all groups,” the author says.

But the biggest surprise came next. While the team had expected to find much more of these cells in the resilient group than in the Alzheimer’s patients, the difference was not as big as expected.

Surprisingly, the team found that the key difference lies in how the immature neurons behave. “In resilient individuals, these cells seem to activate programs that help them survive and cope with damage,” the author says. “We also see lower signals related to inflammation and cell death.”

Continue reading “Not all Alzheimer’s leads to dementia” | >

A Billionaire-Backed Startup Wants to Grow ‘Organ Sacks’ to Replace Animal Testing

As the Trump administration phases out the use of animal experimentation across the federal government, a biotech startup has a bold idea for an alternative to animal testing: nonsentient “organ sacks.”

Bay Area-based R3 Bio has been quietly pitching the idea to investors and in industry publications as a way to replace lab animals without the ethical issues that come with living organisms. That’s because these structures would contain all of the typical organs—except a brain, rendering them unable to think or feel pain. The company’s long-term goal, cofounder Alice Gilman says, is to make human versions that could be used as a source of tissues and organs for people who need them.

For Immortal Dragons, a Singapore-based longevity fund that’s invested in R3, the idea of replacement is a core strategy for human longevity. “We think replacement is probably better than repair when it comes to treating diseases or regulating the aging process in the human body,” says CEO Boyang Wang. “If we can create a nonsentient, headless bodyoid for a human being, that will be a great source of organs.”

Not all organs age alike: AI unveils the molecular impact of menopause across the female body

Despite affecting half of the world’s population, menopause has historically been understudied and misunderstood, both in biomedical research and clinical practice. However, with the increase in life expectancy, the number of women in the postmenopausal stage continues to grow and, in 2021, those over 50 already represented 26% of the world’s population, according to the WHO.

Its effects go far beyond the reproductive system and are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular, metabolic, neurodegenerative, and bone diseases. Nevertheless, few studies analyzed in depth how this process affects the female reproductive system as a whole, beyond the ovaries.

In this context, a new study by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center—Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), published in Nature Aging, presents the first large-scale atlas of female reproductive system aging, providing a new vision of how this process impacts health.

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