Leading biogerontologist João Pedro de Magalhães says that longevity pharmacology has come of age, and discusses rapamycin and Calico.
Category: life extension – Page 335
AI-controlled vertical farm produces 400 times more food per acre than a flat farm
Dedicated to those who argue that life extension is bad because it will create overpopulation problems. In adittion to the fact that natality rates are dangerously decreasing in some developed countries, this is only one example of changes that may will take place well before life extension may create a problem of such type, if ever.
Plenty, an ag-tech startup in San Francisco co-founded by Nate Storey, has been able to increase its productivity and production quality by using artificial intelligence and its new farming strategy. The company’s farm farms take up only 2 acres yet produce 720 acres worth of fruit and vegetables. In addition to their impressive food production, they also manage the production with robots and artificial intelligence.
The company says their farm produces about 400 times more food per acre than a traditional farm. It uses robots and AI to monitor water consumption, light, and the ambient temperature of the environment where plants grow. Over time, the AI learns how to grow crops faster with better quality.
While this is great for food quality, it also helps conserve resources. The water is recycled and evaporated water recaptured so there is virtually no waste. The Startup estimates that this smart farm is so efficient that it produces better fruits and vegetables using 95% less water and 99% less land than normal farming operations.
A novel marker of adult human neural stem cells discovered
Should interest those into links on aging/longevity and neuroscience.
The mammalian center for learning and memory, hippocampus, has a remarkable capacity to generate new neurons throughout life. Newborn neurons are produced by neural stem cells (NSCs) and they are crucial for forming neural circuits required for learning and memory, and mood control. During aging, the number of NSCs declines, leading to decreased neurogenesis and age-associated cognitive decline, anxiety, and depression. Thus, identifying the core molecular machinery responsible for NSC preservation is of fundamental importance if we are to use neurogenesis to halt or reverse hippocampal age-related pathology.
While there are increasing number of tools available to study NSCs and neurogenesis in mouse models, one of the major hurdles in exploring this fundamental biological process in the human brain is the lack of specific NSCs markers amenable for advanced imaging and in vivo analysis. A team of researchers led by Dr. Mirjana Maletić-Savatić, associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine and investigator at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, and Dr. Louis Manganas, associate professor at the Stony Brook University, decided to tackle this problem in a rather unusual way. They reasoned that if they could find proteins that are present on the surface of NSCs, then they could eventually make agents to “see” NSCs in the human brain.
“The ultimate goal of our research is to maintain neurogenesis throughout life at the same level as it is in the young brains, to prevent the decline in our cognitive capabilities and reduce the tendency towards mood disorders such as depression, as we age. To do that, however, we first need to better understand this elusive, yet fundamental process in humans. However, we do not have the tools to study this process in live humans and all the knowledge we have gathered so far comes from analyses of the postmortem brains. And we cannot develop tools to detect this process in people because existing NSC markers are present within cells and unreachable for in vivo visualization,” Maletić-Savatić said. “So, in collaboration with our colleagues from New York and Spain, we undertook this study to find surface markers and then develop tools such as ligands for positron emission tomography (PET) to visualize them using advanced real-time in vivo brain imaging.”
Mammalian Target Of Rapamycin Kinase
Following on in the vein of my recent topics, this week I am looking at mTOR. A crucial protein that performs the function of an enzyme that is critical for day to day function. There are so many terms and words, subjects and strategies, abound, and so many talk in terms where a basic understanding of the subject is necessary to benefit fully, that I decided to create a kind of library, or resource where you can brush up on all the core fundamentals. Should you stimulate mTOR or seek to restrict it? What will happen if I do? Is this a short term strategy or a lifestyle goal? And what is the real state of the science that underpins it all? These are all questions you, or friends, may have, or even may have heard but been unable to answer fully or concisely, hopefully these will help to reduce those issues. Next week I will be looking at its partner in crime, AMPK, together they exist in balance like a playground see-saw… Until then, have an amazing day…
In this video I will look at what mTOR is and how you can harness it to benefit your objectives. By controlling it we can achieve the balance we need which is to grow muscle to stay fit and strong, but also to not burn out too quickly, so we can live a long healthy life, with a long health span. Maximising anti aging to aid in longevity is delicate balance unique to us all and which varies depending on our current goals and objectives.
By learning how all these systems interrelate and interact, we can find the best pathway for our own personal journey, I hope this video goes some way to helping you chart that path.
If you want to know more about rapamycin which is the mTOR inhibitor mentioned, why not try this video next…
https://youtu.be/mbszWs1JX7c.
As always the links to the studies and information I referenced is below…
TAFFD’s AFRICA VIRTUAL TOWN HALL MEETING
Join the Transdisciplinary Agora for Future Discussions, Inc. — TAFFD’s.
A bi-weekly virtual town hall-like show presenting in-depth discussions on issues connected to African advancement in the 21st century ranging from science, technology, … See More.
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Mission.
Creating a space for discussions on ideas and issues related to the African condition, and develop a suitable narrative through multidimensional approaches to drive progress in Africa towards a sustainable and more prosperous future.
Vision.
Building from the present and critically reconstructed African past for a greater, highly advanced, cosmopolitan, peaceful, and prosperous future African civilization through meaningful and fruitful discourse and action.
Holding: TAFFD’s Africa.
Why Do We Age? 4 Theories of Aging
Scientists don’t actually agree on why we age (which I find a little wild), but there are a number of competing theories of aging.
I dug into 4 of the most representative and current. Any ones you’d add?:
Why do we age? Lots of theories have tried to explain the aging process, but the truth is scientists still don’t agree on a single reason.
Liz Parrish goes deep into gene therapies at the HackMyAge Podcast by Zora (March 2021)
Long but annotated! Most important here is human data for specific treatments due out starting in May or June. And apparently they had a mouse study where they expected a paper due out already but other groups chimed in to help with more testing so there is a delay.
Liz Parrish, CEO of BioViva Science and patient zero of biological rejuvenation with gene therapies, is interviewed by Zora Benhamou on her fresh podcast “HackMyAge”.
During the conversation, Liz enters deep into the world of gene therapies, either to cure monogenic diseases, multifactorial genetic diseases, or the mother of all diseases: aging itself.
The conversation lasts for one hour and twenty minutes and has no waste. However, to go direct to certain themes use the following time marks:
0:00:00 Zora introduces the podcast: who is Liz Parrish and what the conversation will be about.
HDL Update: Age-Related Changes, All-Cause Mortality Risk, And Progress Towards The Optimal Range
Here’s my latest video!
In November 2020, I made a HDL video based on a meta-analysis in ~3.4 million subjects that was published in July 2020. In Dec 2020, a larger study (n=15.8 million subjects) was published-those data are presented in the video, and compared against the meta-analysis.
In addition, I’ve tested my HDL 2 more times since November 2020, so how’s my progress for getting it into the optimal range? Also, I attempt to derive clinical significance by identifying correlations for higher HDL with lower Lp(a) and hs-CRP.
Studies referenced in the video:
High-density lipoprotein cholesterol and all-cause mortality by sex and age: a prospective cohort study among 15.8 million adults:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33313654/
HDL-C is associated with mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease and cancer in a J-shaped dose-response fashion: a pooled analysis of 37 prospective cohort studies:
New technology ‘retrains’ cells to repair damaged brain tissue in mice after stroke
The regeneration of damaged central nervous system (CNS) tissues is one of the biggest goals of regenerative medicine.
Most stroke victims don’t receive treatment fast enough to prevent brain damage. Scientists at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, College of Engineering and College of Medicine have developed technology to “retrain” cells to help repair damaged brain tissue. It’s an advancement that may someday help patients regain speech, cognition and motor function, even when administered days after an ischemic stroke.
Engineering and medical researchers use a process created by Ohio State called tissue nanotransfection (TNT) to introduce genetic material into cells. This allows them to reprogram skin cells to become something different—in this case vascular cells—to help fix damaged brain tissue.
Study findings published online today in the journal Science Advances.
U.S. Transhumanist Party Virtual Enlightenment Salon with Aubrey de Grey
Today at 1 PM PST.
On Sunday, February 212021, at 1 p.m. U.S. Pacific Time, the U.S. Transhumanist Party invites Dr. Aubrey de Grey of the SENS Research Foundation, for an in-depth conversation about recent developments in the quest to reverse the damage of biological aging. The discussion will cover current in rejuvenation research and advocacy, as well as delve into how the prospects for reaching longevity escape velocity have changed since Dr. de Grey’s remarks at the U.S. Transhumanist Party Discussion Panel on Life Extension nearly 4 years ago in 2017.
Dr. Aubrey de Grey is the biomedical gerontologist who researched the idea for and founded SENS Research Foundation — http://www.sens.org/. He received his BA in Computer Science and Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Cambridge in 1985 and 2000, respectively. Dr. de Grey is Editor-in-Chief of Rejuvenation Research, is a Fellow of both the Gerontological Society of America and the American Aging Association, and sits on the editorial and scientific advisory boards of numerous journals and organizations.
Watch this Virtual Enlightenment Salon on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohet4kAfskM