The ability to accurately quantify biological age could help monitor and control healthy aging. Epigenetic clocks have emerged as promising tools for estimating biological age, yet so far, most of these clocks have been developed from heterogeneous bulk tissues, and are thus composites of two aging processes, one reflecting the change of cell-type composition with age and another reflecting the aging of individual cell-types. There is thus a need to dissect and quantify these two components of epigenetic clocks, and to develop epigenetic clocks that can yield biological age estimates at cell-type resolution. Here we demonstrate that in blood and brain, approximately 35% of an epigenetic clock’s accuracy is driven by underlying shifts in lymphocyte and neuronal subsets, respectively. Using brain and liver tissue as prototypes, we build and validate neuron and hepatocyte specific DNA methylation clocks, and demonstrate that these cell-type specific clocks yield improved estimates of chronological age in the corresponding cell and tissue-types. We find that neuron and glia specific clocks display biological age acceleration in Alzheimer’s Disease with the effect being strongest for glia in the temporal lobe. The hepatocyte clock is found accelerated in liver under various pathological conditions. In contrast, non-cell-type specific clocks do not display biological age-acceleration, or only do so more marginally. In summary, this work highlights the importance of dissecting epigenetic clocks and quantifying biological age at cell-type resolution.
The authors have declared no competing interest.
The Illumina DNA methylation datasets analyzed here are all freely available from GEO (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo).
There’s only one alliterative phrase i like more than ‘the sheekey science show’, and that’s ‘anti-aging antibodies’. now, as it happens, one thing i spent a lot of time working on this year is antibodies. Antibody, make me feel this way. now while i cannot tell you yet what i was/am doing, i can tell you about two recent science stories that exploit antibodies to extend mouse lifespan. Firstly, i will bring your attention to this paper — immunotherapy targeting isoDGR-protein damage extends lifespan and then we’ll look at this paper that came out last month — Inhibition of IL-11 signalling extends mammalian healthspan.
REFERENCES Immunotherapy targeting isoDGR‐protein damage extends lifespan in a mouse model of protein deamidation — https://doi.org/10.15252/emmm.202318526 Widjaja, A.A., Lim, WW., Viswanathan, S. et al. Inhibition of IL-11 signalling extends mammalian healthspan and lifespan. Nature 632157–165 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07…
Please note that The Sheekey Science Show is distinct from Eleanor Sheekey’s teaching and research roles. The information provided in this show is not medical advice, nor should it be taken or applied as a replacement for medical advice. The Sheekey Science Show and guests assume no liability for the application of the information discussed.
Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan. The idea of Dyson Spheres was a radical proposal by the physicist Freeman Dyson, an enormous shell of material enveloping a star. Dyson’s idea may be over half a century old, but interest in looking for such objects has only grown in the decades since. But how would such structures work? Are they physically even possible? And what might someone use them for? Today, we dive into the physics of Dyson spheres. Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas. Special thanks to Jason Wright for fact checking. → Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support → Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-wor… Check out our podcast: / @coolworldspodcast THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O’Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan & H. Schiff. REFERENCES ► Wright, J. 2020, “Dyson Spheres”, Serbian Astronomical Journal, 200, 1: https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.16734 ► Dyson, F. 1960, “Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation”, Science, 131, 1667: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/196… ► Dyson, F. 1960, Science, 132,250 ► NASA IRB JWST Report 2018: https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploa… ► Papagiannis, M. D. 1985, “SETI — a look into the future.”, The search for extraterrestrial life: recent development, 543: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/198… ► Scoggins, M. & Kipping, D. 2023, “Lazarus stars: numerical investigations of stellar evolution with star-lifting as a life extension strategy”, MNRAS, 523, 3251: https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.02338 MUSIC Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…) or with permission from the artist. 0:34 Tamuz Dekel — Quiet Pull 3:05 We Dream of Eden — Discovery 4:23 Hill — World of Wonder [https://open.spotify.com/track/7kYX7G… ] 6:28 Chris Zabriskie — Music from Neptune Flux 4 8:59 Hill — Arctic Warmth 11:54 Hill — Northern Borders 15:13 Hill — Fragile 17:45 Indive — Trace Correction CHAPTERS 0:00 Prologue 0:39 Inception 3:11 Incogni 4:27 Mechanical Stability 8:31 Gravitational Stability 11:08 Stellar Feedback 13:42 Computational Limits 16:23 Rings and Swarms 17:45 Outro and Credits #DysonSphere #Astronomy #CoolWorlds
RAADfest is the largest and most immersive event in the world focused on super-longevity for a general audience. Bringing together cutting-edge science, inspiration, entertainment and fun, RAADfest is more than just a conference – it’s a celebration of life. From brain longevity and sexual health, to senolytics, personalized medicine and helping your pets live longer too, RAADfest provides the information and inspiration to enable people to take charge of their longevity.
Produced by the Coalition for Radical Life Extension, RAADfest also includes RAADcity, the international product expo. RAADcity features leading brands sharing demos and deals on their longevity products and services with the people who want and need them the most.
I have a new essay out via the wonderful site Merion West. The article is based on some of my experimental writings at Oxford. I hope you’ll read and consider it. I’m highly worried life extension science isn’t moving forward fast enough!
“Sadly, biological humans are likely to be mortal for centuries more, unless a dramatic increase of both resources and life extension scientists are marshaled.”
Certain well-known gerontologists and longevity experts around the world believe that sometime in this century—probably in the next 15–50 years—medicine will likely overcome and cure most forms of disease, and even death itself. Billionaires such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Alphabet’s Larry Page, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison have jumped on board, pledging billions of dollars to “conquering all disease by this century” and mortality altogether.
These business titans hope age reversal techniques via genetic editing therapies, stem cell rejuvenation, 3D bioprinting of organs, and the widespread creation of synthetic organs like artificial hearts could keep people indefinitely young and healthy. If biological human death from disease and aging are overcome, then only catastrophic accidental death—such as an airplane crash or incineration—can kill people. (Accidental death in this vein accounts for about seven percent of all deaths in the United States.)
Transhumanists believe that the human being is like a machine—an entity that can be fixed and made to overcome nearly all biological death. The question is how fast can this be done? If the human being is indeed a machine-like entity as nearly all credible scientists propose, then the answer almost certainly rests not in the limits of biology but, rather, in the amount of work and resources put into the life extension field.