Lifeboat Foundation

Certain RNA molecules in the nerve cells in the brain last a life time without being renewed. Neuroscientists from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have now demonstrated that this is the case together with researchers from Germany, Austria and the USA. RNAs are generally short-lived molecules that are constantly reconstructed to adjust to environmental conditions. With their findings that have now been published in the journal Science, the research group hopes to decipher the complex aging process of the brain and gain a better understanding of related degenerative diseases.

Most cells in the human body are regularly renewed, thereby retaining their vitality. However, there are exceptions: the heart, the pancreas and the brain consist of cells that do not renew throughout the whole lifespan, and yet still have to remain in full working order. “Aging neurons are an important risk factor for neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s,” says Prof. Dr. Tomohisa Toda, Professor of Neural Epigenomics at FAU and at the Max Planck Center for Physics and Medicine in Erlangen. “A basic understanding of the aging process and which key components are involved in maintaining cell function is crucial for effective treatment concepts:”

In a joint study conducted together with neuroscientists from Dresden, La Jolla (USA) and Klosterneuburg (Austria), the working group led by Toda has now identified a key component of brain aging: the researchers were able to demonstrate for the first time that certain types of ribonucleic acid (RNA) that protect genetic material exist just as long as the neurons themselves. “This is surprising, as unlike DNA, which as a rule never changes, most RNA molecules are extremely short-lived and are constantly being exchanged,” Toda explains.

Andrew Scott on why humanity must pursue an ‘evergreen’ agenda to become a longevity society, rather than an aging one.

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Recent research published in Nature Communications from the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford has identified 15 modifiable risk factors for dementia, and of those diabetes, alcohol intake, and traffic-related air pollution are the most harmful.

Previous research from this group revealed an area of weakness in the brain of a specific network of higher-order regions that only develop later in adolescence but also display earlier degeneration in old age, and they showed that this brain network is particularly vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. This study investigated genetic and modifiable influences on these regions by utilizing data from the UK Biobank.

Continue reading “Risk Factors For Faster Brain Aging” »

A tiny creature that’s sturdy enough to survive space may hold the key to human longevity, scientists have found in a new study.

Liz Parrish, CEO of BioViva Science, is the world’s most genetically modified person. She took a telomere-restoring gene therapy in 2015 alongside follistatin, making her the first person to take gene therapy to treat biological aging.

But why telomeres?

While there are other ways to measure and address the aging process, lengthening telomeres is an especially promising avenue.

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While most of us can expect to live to around 80, some people defy expectations and live to be over 100. In places such as Okinawa, Japan and Sardinia, Italy, there are many centenarians.

The oldest person in history – a French woman named Jeanne Calment – lived to 122. When she was born in 1,875, the average life expectancy was roughly 43.

But just how long could a human actually live? It’s a question people have been asking for centuries. While average life expectancy (the number of years a person can expect to live) is relatively easy to calculate, maximum lifespan estimates (the greatest age a human could possibly reach) are much harder to make. Previous studies have placed this limit close to 140 years of age. But a more recent study proposes that the limit to human lifespan is closer to 150.

University of Wyoming researchers have gained further insight into how tardigrades survive extreme conditions and shown that proteins from the microscopic creatures expressed in human cells can slow down molecular processes.

This makes the tardigrade proteins potential candidates in technologies centered on slowing the aging process and in long-term storage of human cells.

The new study, published in the journal Protein Science, examines the mechanisms used by tardigrades to enter and exit from suspended animation when faced by environmental stress. Led by Senior Research Scientist Silvia Sanchez-Martinez in the lab of UW Department of Molecular Biology Assistant Professor Thomas Boothby, the research provides additional evidence that tardigrade proteins eventually could be used to make life-saving treatments available to people where refrigeration is not possible — and enhance storage of cell-based therapies, such as stem cells.