Lifeboat Foundation

AgomAb Therapeutics have announced the successful acquisition of a second round of funding ($74M) for research into the applications of antibodies for use in the field of regenerative medicine. Antibodies have already received a large amount of attention for their ability to positively effect numerous conditions such as inflammation, metabolic disorders, and non-healing wounds.

Antibodies are small protein molecules which are used by the body to ‘tag’ foreign pathogens in order for the immune system to identify and destroy them. What is unique about these antibodies is that due to their structure they will only attach themselves to a particular pathogen (at a particular site known as an antigen). In many cases, the binding of an antibody to a pathogen such as a virus is enough to completely inactive the pathogen, making it effectively harmless.

Where does all the blood for a young blood plasma transfusion come from? Young blood transfusions have been making waves in the media lately, with several different experiments providing exciting evidence that ‘young blood’ can rejuvenate the body and reverse the effects of ageing.

Caenorhabditis elegans is a nematode worm which is commonly utilised in longevity research due to their genetic similarity to humans and their extremely short lifespans (often no more than 4 weeks). Previous research into improving the lifespan of these worms has yielded several interesting results, with modifications to their insulin and rapamycin signalling pathways resulting in a 100% and 30% increase in lifespan respectively. These successes prompted the obvious question, what would happen if both of these pathways were modified at the same time?

Photograph of the Caenorhabditis elegans adult hermaphrodite. Scale bar, 100 μm. Credit: ResearchGate, Nobuyuki Hamada.

Eureka 😀

A new study suggests that the biological age of both mouse and human embryos resets during development.

When an 87-year-old Californian man was wheeled into an operating room just outside Phoenix last year, the pandemic was at its height and medical protocols were being upended across the country.

A case like his would normally have required 14 or more bags of fluids to be pumped into him, but now that posed a problem.

Had he been infected with the coronavirus, tiny aerosol droplets could have escaped and infected staff, so the operating team had adopted new procedures that reduced the effectiveness of the treatment but used fewer liquids.

👏😄We are rapidly approaching — from multiple directions of attack (pharmaceutical, nanotechnology, gene manipulation, etc) — the end of all forms of cancer, inherited diseases, even aging itself. It’s a great time to be alive IF you can live long enough to live forever(ish)! Which makes EVERY death that occurs in the meantime to be all the more of a punch to the gut and slap to the face. PARTICULARLY the 600 000 + people here in the US alone! It’s also another reason t… See More.

If the gene-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 continues to show such promise it will herald a new era for the treatment of many genetic diseases.

In August last year, Unity released interim results showing that its drug was probably ineffective in treating study patients suffering from osteoarthritis.

Its stock price plummeted as a consequence, but Dr de Grey remains hopeful that “soon we might have drugs that actively cause these cells to die”.

While Dr de Grey is excited to see much of the life extension research he helped develop come to fruition, some thinkers are raising concerns about the implications of an extended human lifespan.

Mesenchymal stem cells derived from adipose tissue appear to reverse some effects of aging in nearby somatic cells.

A new study published in the FASEB Journal shows how mesenchymal stem cells derived from adipose tissue (ADSCs) reverse some effects of aging in nearby cells.

It’s not the cells themselves, it’s what they secrete

Continue reading “How Stem Cells Promote the Health of Nearby Cells” »

Loyal founder Celine Halioua talks about the inspiration behind her journey into aging science and why dog longevity has relevance in humans.