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Archive for the ‘life extension’ category: Page 123

Mar 8, 2023

A longevity expert who studied people who live to 110 on how humanity and AI will master aging

Posted by in categories: life extension, robotics/AI

BioAge is developing treatments to extend healthy lifespan by targeting molecular causes of aging. Its CEO Kristen Fortney started by studying the super-old.

Mar 6, 2023

Longevity company Biophysical Therapeutics emerges from stealth

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, life extension, neuroscience

Biophysical Therapeutics, a drug discovery platform company that leverages computational biology, has emerged from stealth. The primary targets of the Delaware-based company are cancer, the diseases of aging (including Alzheimer’s disease) and – excitingly – aging itself.

Founded by Dr Michael Forrest, a Cambridge University biochemistry graduate with a PhD in computer science, Biophysical Therapeutics boasts renowned biotech entrepreneur Professor George Church (of Harvard Medical School) as an advisor to the company. Professor Bruno Conti of the Scripps Institute in La Jolla, California is also an advisor.

Longevity. Technology: Back in 2006, Conti and his team reported an exciting result in the prestigious journal Science. They showed (in female mice) that slightly reducing the metabolic rate by slightly reducing metabolic heat generation (decreasing body temperature by 0.34°C) increased lifespan by 20%.

Mar 6, 2023

Anti-aging Supplements: Science, Snake Oil, and How Do We Know?

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics, life extension, science

🇬🇧FREE WEBINAR🇮🇹: https://draronica.com/free-webinar/

In this Ask Me Anything interview, Prof. Matt Kaeberlein discusses the evidence (and lack thereof) behind popular anti-aging supplements and interventions. Starting from his current research on rapamycin for healthy longevity in dogs (The Dog Aging Project), he describes the promises and perils of anti-aging medicine and shares with us some tips on how to become better critical thinkers and protect us from hype and snake oil.

Continue reading “Anti-aging Supplements: Science, Snake Oil, and How Do We Know?” »

Mar 6, 2023

Life Need Not Ever End

Posted by in categories: evolution, law, life extension

At least, that was the assumption in the second half of the 19th century. This scenario became known as the “heat death” of the universe, and it seemed to be the nail in the coffin for any optimistic cosmology that promised, or even allowed, eternal life and consciousness. For example, one of the most popular cosmological models of the time was put forth by the evolutionary theorist Herbert Spencer, a contemporary of Charles Darwin who was actually more famous than him during their time. Spencer believed that the flow of energy through the universe was organizing it. He argued that biological evolution was just part of a larger process of cosmic evolution, and that life and human civilization were the current products of a process of continual cosmic complexification, which would ultimately lead to a state of maximal complexity, integration and balance among all things.

When the prominent Irish physicist John Tyndall told Spencer about the heat death hypothesis in a letter in 1858,” Spencer wrote him back to say it left him “staggered”: “Indeed, not seeing my way out of the conclusion, I remember being out of spirits for some days afterwards. I still feel unsettled about the matter.”

Things got even gloomier when the Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann put forward a new statistical interpretation of the second law in the latter half of the 19th century. That was when the idea that the universe is growing more disordered came into the picture. Boltzmann took the classical version of the second law — that useful energy inevitably dissipates — and tried to give it a statistical explanation on the level of molecules colliding and spreading out. He used one of the simplest models possible: a gas confined to a box.

Mar 4, 2023

Is reverse aging already possible? Some drugs that could treat aging might already be on the pharmacy shelves

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, neuroscience

“People on metformin have 30% lower rates of almost every kind of cancer. It delays cognitive decline. Even people with diabetes who are obese and have more disease to start with but are on metformin have lower mortality rates than people without diabetes who aren’t on the drug.”

What he says is born out in numerous studies. Overall, this safe, super-cheap, decades-old drug not only treats diabetes, but it also seems to delay and compress the years of chronic illness associated with the final stage of life and extend what geroscientists call the “healthspan.”

Metformin is just one of many medications, including other old ones and some brand new inventions, that academic researchers and biotech startups are exploring to slow, stop, or perhaps even reverse aging.

Mar 4, 2023

How the longevity industry can deliver lives that are healthier — physically and mentally

Posted by in categories: life extension, neuroscience

While the mental has often played second fiddle to the physical when it comes to longevity research, this is changing – and not a moment too soon.

The physical and mental aspects of aging are interconnected, and given the strong connection between psychology and the physical pace of aging, poor mental health is starting to be recognised as a major driver of aging.

A raft of developments have demonstrated that physical lifespan and healthspan can be extended and improved, and now it is time for the longevity industry to achieve similar success when it comes to mental health. Sergey Jakimov, the CEO of Swiss investment group LongeVC agrees, and tells us why it’s time for VCs to get excited about backing startups delivering cutting-edge solutions for mental healthcare.

Mar 4, 2023

Tapping into the molecular fountain of youth

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

At just 40 years old, Kristen Fortney has spent more than half of her life thinking about the science of aging. But why?

“When I get asked this question I usually blame it on reading too much science fiction,” the CEO and co-founder of the clinical-stage biotech BioAge Labs said with a laugh. “My co-founder, Eric Morgen, and I have been talking about aging since high school.”

Mar 4, 2023

George Church: Biomanufacturing, CRISPR,1 million cell edits, Woolly mammoth-Learning with Lowell-164

Posted by in categories: engineering, genetics, life extension

George Church is a geneticist known for his pioneering work in developing new technologies for genome sequencing, editing, and synthesis. He has also been involved in research on genome engineering and gene therapy.

Links.
https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/core-faculty/george-church/
https://arep.med.harvard.edu/

Continue reading “George Church: Biomanufacturing, CRISPR,1 million cell edits, Woolly mammoth-Learning with Lowell-164” »

Mar 3, 2023

I Want You To Live to 150… Here’s Why & How

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

Call it naive, call it crazy, but I think we have a real chance to tackle aging in this century. And though it’s not easy — it’s very simple.

If you have seen the banner of this channel — it says it’s all. But in this video I go deeper into my personal story and motivation. This way I hope you can understand why I’m doing what I’m doing.

Continue reading “I Want You To Live to 150… Here’s Why & How” »

Mar 2, 2023

Axel Montagne, PhD, on Solving Alzheimer’s and Dementia with Blood-Brain Barrier Repair

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, neuroscience

So much here I never knew:


Dr. Axel Montagne is a chancellor’s fellow and group leader at the UK Dementia Research Institute at the University of Edinburgh Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences. His group aims to understand how, when, and where critical components of the blood-brain barrier become dysfunctional preceding dementia and in the earliest stages of age-related cognitive decline. With this knowledge, they hope to develop precise treatments targeting brain vasculature to protect brain function.

Continue reading “Axel Montagne, PhD, on Solving Alzheimer’s and Dementia with Blood-Brain Barrier Repair” »