Lifeboat Foundation

After a decade of fighting for regulatory approval and public acceptance, a biotechnology firm has released genetically engineered mosquitoes into the open air in the United States for the first time. The experiment, launched this week in the Florida Keys — over the objections of some local critics — tests a method for suppressing populations of wild Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which can carry diseases such as Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever.

Biotech firm Oxitec launches controversial field test of its insects in Florida after years of push-back from residents and regulatory complications.

A mental health startup built its business on easy-to-use technology. Patients joined in droves. Then came a catastrophic data breach.

LX1001, a gene therapy for Alzheimer’s disease being developed by Lexeo Therapeutics, has been granted fast track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The therapy is designed to deliver a version of the APOE gene, called APOE2, to cells in the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) using an engineered viral vector.

Every person inherits two copies of the APOE gene, one from each biological parent. There are three versions of the APOE gene, called alleles — APOE2, APOE3, and APOE4 (often abbreviated to E2, E3, and E4). The specific combination of alleles a person has affects their Alzheimer’s risk. Broadly, the E2 allele is associated with lower Alzheimer’s risk, whereas the E4 allele is linked to increased disease risk. As such, LX1001 is designed to deliver the protective allele (APOE2).

As founder of Longevity Vision Fund, I am often asked about the most promising life extension breakthroughs, from early cancer diagnostics to human avatars and everything in between. The simple answer is that there are many — but that’s probably not the kind of answer you were looking for!

Instead, let’s look at the latest longevity breakthroughs working on each of the five major levels of biological organization (cell, tissue, organ, organ system and organism) and what they each aim to accomplish.

In a study at The University of Alabama, aging fruit flies died faster than younger flies from a viral infection because of different genetic responses, lowering the older flies’ tolerance to the infection.

The findings published recently in G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics add to the understanding of innate immunity, the first line of defense against infections, which is not fully understood in humans, and prove the fruit fly, Drosophila, is a good candidate for aging immunity studies that could lead to advancements in treating viral infections in older humans.

“We are living in times where there is a substantial increase in aging populations, and we know there is a decline of immune function in humans as we age,” said Dr. Stanislava Chtarbanova, UA assistant professor of biological sciences whose lab led the study. “This is the first study to use the fly for investigating age-dependent, anti-viral responses. Our lab can leverage this genetic model to study the molecular mechanisms underlying aging immunity.”

Circa 2015

Drinking a few cups of coffee a day may help people avoid clogged arteries — a known risk factor for heart disease — South Korean researchers believe.

Deer can regrow their antlers, and humans can replace their liver. What else might be possible?

Now, researchers have revealed that colistin punches holes in bacteria, causing them to pop like balloons. The work, funded by the Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust, and published in the journal eLife, also identified a way of making the antibiotic more effective at killing bacteria.

Scientists have revealed how an antibiotic of ‘last resort’ kills bacteria.

The findings, from Imperial College London and the University of Texas, may also reveal a potential way to make the antibiotic more powerful.

Continue reading “‘Last resort’ antibiotic pops bacteria like balloons” »

New symptoms for the disease now include “chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and new loss of taste or smell,” the CDC said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tripled the number of coronavirus symptoms it lists on its website.

The federal organization previously listed fever, cough and shortness of breath as symptoms of COVID-19. The CDC has added six additional symptoms as people “have had a wide range of symptoms reported,” it says on its website.