Lifeboat Foundation

Disrupting a gene responsible for pigments allowed experts in Kobe, Japan to create albino opossum offspring.

This study builds on an earlier paper by the Rothstein lab that looked at the most common genetic cause of ALS, a mutation in the C9orf72 gene (also referred to as the “C9 mutation”). There, they showed that the C9 mutation produced defects in a structure called the nuclear pore that is responsible for moving proteins and other molecules in and out of the nucleus of cells.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressive and fatal degenerative disease affecting the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord responsible for controlling voluntary muscle movement. “Sporadic” or non-inherited ALS, accounts for roughly 90% percent of cases, and 10% of cases are due to known genetic mutations. By studying lab-grown neurons derived from skin or blood cells from 10 normal controls, eight with an ALS causing mutation, and 17 with non-inherited ALS, researchers have found a possible starting point for the dysfunction that causes the disease. The study, which was published in Science Translational Medicine, was funded in part by the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Using a library of ALS patient-derived cells, the research team led by Jeffrey Rothstein, M.D., Ph.D., at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, developed induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neurons from the patients’ cultured cells to discover a common defect regardless of whether the cell came from persons with inherited or non-inherited ALS. They report that in ALS nerve cells, there is an accumulation of a protein called CHMP7 in the nucleus of cultured nerve cells as well as in ALS samples from the brain region that controls movement. Treatments that decrease the amount of CHMP7 in the cultured cells prevented a series of abnormalities that are characteristic of ALS.

Continue reading “Researchers identify a cellular defect common to familial and sporadic forms of ALS” »

Despite years of efforts, malaria remains a major health problem. The mosquito-borne parasitic disease sickens more than 200 million people every year and kills more than 400000, many of whom are children.

For the first time, scientists have shown that a new kind of genetic engineering can crash populations of malaria-spreading mosquitoes.

In the landmark study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications, researchers placed the genetically modified mosquitoes in a special laboratory that simulated the conditions in sub-Saharan Africa, where they spread the deadly disease.

Continue reading “How An Altered Strand Of DNA Can Cause Malaria-Spreading Mosquitoes To Self-Destruct” »

A reverse genetics approach determined that seven genes are required together for normal cell division in a genomically minimal cell; these include two known cell division genes, ftsZ and sepF, a hydrolase of unknown substrate, and four genes that encode membrane-associated proteins of unknown function.

Links to biological age calculators:
Levine’s PhenoAge calculator is embedded as an Excel file:

https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/09/09/quantifying-biological-age/

Continue reading “Quantifying Biological Age: Blood Test #3 in 2021” »

More TAME! The first part of this has a lot of result data.

Foresight Biotech & Health Extension Meeting sponsored by 100 Plus Capital.
2021 program & apply to join: https://foresight.org/biotech-health-extension-program/

Continue reading “TAME Q&A: Lessons for Progress on Aging | Nir Barzilai, Albert Einstein School of Medicine” »

The result is optogenetics, a mind-controlling technique that’s become one of neuroscience’s most popular tools. Here, scientists use genetic engineering to put different types of algae proteins into the brains of mice. They can then activate a neuron with an implanted fiber optic cable by pulsing certain wavelengths of light. These enhanced brain cells react as they would naturally, generating an electrical signal that’s passed down and interpreted by the mouse’s brain.

Sound familiar?

If an algae protein can artificially allow neurons in the brain to translate light into electrical information, why can’t it do the same for damaged eyes?

Continue reading “How Gene Therapy and Algae Proteins Partially Restored a Blind Man’s Sight” »

A summary of the sequel trial for a cocktail of drugs that originally turned back epigenetic clocks by 2.5 years. I do wonder what effect plasma filtering has on the thymus if any.

In this video we review the TRIIM study and look at the trial document for TRIIM-X, the extension study that Dr. Fahy is now conducting.

Continue reading “TRIIM-X 2nd Phase Clinical Trial For Reversing Human Aging | Study Review” »

Mount Sinai researchers have developed a therapeutic agent that shows high effectiveness in vitro at disrupting a biological pathway that helps cancer survive, according to a paper published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, in July.

The therapy is an engineered molecule, named MS21, that causes the degradation of AKT, an enzyme that is overly active in many cancers. This study laid out evidence that pharmacological degradation of AKT is a viable treatment for cancers with mutations in certain genes.

AKT is a cancer gene that encodes an enzyme that is frequently abnormally activated in cancer cells to stimulate tumor growth. Degradation of AKT reverses these processes and inhibits tumor growth.

Continue reading “New Gene Therapy Developed That Could Be Effective Against Many Types of Cancer” »