Lifeboat Foundation

Senolytics are an emerging class of drugs designed to target zombie-like cells that have stopped dividing and build up in the body as we age, and the past few years have seen some exciting discoveries that demonstrate their potential. Adding another to the list are Mayo Clinic researchers, who have shown that these drugs can protect against aging and its related diseases, by acting on a protein long associated with longevity.

The zombie-like cells involved in this research are known as senescent cells, and their accumulation during aging is associated with a range of diseases. Recent studies have shown that using senolytics to clear them out could serve as new and effective treatments for dementia and diabetes, and also improve health and lifespan more broadly.

The Mayo Clinic team were exploring how senolytics can influence levels of a protein called a-klotho, known to help protect older people from the effects of aging. The role of this protein in the aging process is well established and has placed it at the center of much research in this space, with studies demonstrating how it could help reverse osteoarthritis and regenerate old muscles.

Immortal jellyfish could actually be the key to immortality and regeneration. This article talks more in depth of its importance in the search of immortality.

Turritopsis nutricula (T. nutricula) is the one of the known reported organisms that can revert its life cycle to the polyp stage even after becoming sexually mature, defining itself as the only immortal organism in the animal kingdom. Therefore, the animal is having prime importance in basic biological, aging, and biomedical researches. However, till date, the genome of this organism has not been sequenced and even there is no molecular phylogenetic study to reveal its close relatives. Here, using phylogenetic analysis based on available 16s rRNA gene and protein sequences of Cytochrome oxidase subunit-I (COI or COX1) of T. nutricula, we have predicted the closest relatives of the organism. While we found Nemopsis bachei could be closest organism based on COX1 gene sequence; T. dohrnii may be designated as the closest taxon to T. nutricula based on rRNA. Moreover, we have figured out four species that showed similar root distance based on COX1 protein sequence.

Keywords: Turritopsis nutricula, immortal jellyfish, trans-differentiation, phylogeny, relativeness.

Continue reading “The conserved mitochondrial gene distribution in relatives of Turritopsis nutricula, an immortal jellyfish” »

Circa 2021 😃

CRISPR-induced KAT7 gene inactivation rejuvenates prematurely aging human cells and mice and promotes longevity.

This starts with Tyson’s deathism quote, but I’m still a fan. I do wonder if he’ll take a treatment when he sees everyone else rejuvenating around him.

This technology has to translate images into something the human brain can understand. Click the numbers in the interactive image below to find read about how this works.

There are a whole range of conditions, some which are picked up due to the aging process and others which may be inherited, that can cause sight deterioration.

Bionic eyes work by ‘filling in the blanks’ between what the retina perceives and how it is processed in the brain’s visual cortex, that breakdown occurs in conditions which impact the retina. It is largely these conditions which bionic eyes could help treat.

An international team of researchers claim to have slowed the signs of aging in mice by resetting their cells to younger states, using a genetic treatment.

To the scientists, The Guardian reports, it’s a breakthrough in cell regeneration and therapeutic medicine that doesn’t seem to cause any unexpected issues in mice.

“We are elated that we can use this approach across the life span to slow down aging in normal animals,” said Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, Salk Institute professor and co-corresponding author of a new study published in the journal Nature Aging, in a statement. “The technique is both safe and effective in mice.”

Circa 2017

Arrayed nanochannels can be used to controllably transfect and reprogram tissues in vivo for applications in regenerative medicine and cell-based therapies.

Immunomodulatory Biomaterials In Regenerative Medicine — Dr. Kara Spiller-Geisler, Ph.D., Drexel University School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems.

Dr. Kara Spiller, PhD (https://drexel.edu/biomed/faculty/core/SpillerKara/) is Associate Professor in the Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine Laboratory at Drexel University, in Philadelphia.

Continue reading “Dr. Kara Spiller, PhD — Immunomodulatory Biomaterials In Regenerative Medicine — Drexel University” »

A new cellular rejuvenation therapy is reported by scientists at the Salk Institute, which can reverse aspects of aging in mice, without causing cancer or other health problems.