The most important problem in medicine, and the case for acting now.
Category: life extension
One injection reversed osteoarthritis in weeks
Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, CU Anschutz, and Colorado State University have developed a set of experimental treatments that may help aging and damaged joints repair themselves in a matter of weeks. The therapies have shown promising results in animal studies, where they reversed signs of osteoarthritis and restored joint health.
The new approaches include a regenerative injection designed to be administered directly into a joint, as well as a biomaterial-based repair system that encourages the body’s own cells to rebuild damaged cartilage.
The work recently received a major boost from the federal Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), which announced that the team will move forward to the next stage of a project worth up to $33.5 million. The research is part of the ARPA-H Novel Innovations for Tissue Regeneration in Osteoarthritis (NITRO) program, led by ARPA-H Program Manager Dr. Ross Uhrich.
The Fountain of Youth Is Officially in Human Trials
The first human trial of epigenetic reprogramming is underway.
Scientists are testing whether three genes can make old cells behave like young ones again while avoiding the cancer risk that has challenged the field for years.
Rare aging disorder links ‘biological clock’ to disease
Scientists have discovered a rare genetic condition that causes people to age at a much faster rate, offering fresh insights into the aging process. The study shows for the first time how a “biological clock” present in every cell of the body could contribute to age-related diseases.
Experts say the findings could support the design of future medicines to counter diseases linked to older age, as life expectancies continue to rise across the globe.
The study is published in the journal Nature Genetics.
Transhumanism 101 with Natasha Vita-More
In 2012, transhumanism was still being called “the most dangerous idea in the world.”
Fourteen years later, we’re casually debating brain-computer interfaces, radical life extension, and what it even means to stay “human” in an age of AI. The fringe became the headline.
So I went back into the Singularity. FM archive and pulled my conversation with Dr. Natasha Vita-More, often called the first female philosopher of transhumanism. We recorded “Transhumanism 101” to cut through the fear and the ideology and get to the actual ideas.
We covered a lot:
Why Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein still shapes how we react to enhancement technology, two centuries later. Where the panic comes from (Bill Joy, Fukuyama) and why most of it misses the point. The real differences between transhuman, posthuman, and cyborg. And critical thinking as a core tenet, not a footnote, of the whole project.
The line that stuck with me, and that lands even harder today: “Get creative about the future.”
3 Age-Reversal Therapies Being Tested Right Now
Most people still think Longevity Escape Velocity is a distant future. But what if some of the technologies that could make it possible are already being tested right now?
In this video, we look at three emerging longevity therapies: partial epigenetic reprogramming, senescent-cell removal, and stem-cell based repair. Some are already in human trials, while others are still early and experimental, but together they show how medicine may begin shifting from treating age-related disease to repairing parts of aging itself.
1:16 — THERAPY #1 — Partial epigenetic reprogramming.
3:34 — THERAPY #2 — SenoVax immune cleanup.
5:24 — THERAPY #3 — Lomecel — B — stem-cell therapy.
7:07 — CONCLUSION — From theory to repair.
📚 SOURCES AND STUDIES MENTIONED
ER-100 / partial epigenetic reprogramming:
Perovskite solar cells need decades-long durability. New work shows which fast-aging tests come closest
Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) could conquer the mass market within a few years, perhaps even being produced in Europe. Their large-scale production is highly cost-effective, and unlike silicon solar cells, their production is less energy-intensive. However, perovskite solar cells ideally need to achieve decades-long warranties, which remains a challenge.
To assess their long-term stability, various test methods are used to accelerate aging. But how accurately do these methods reflect the actual degradation processes? A new study in Joule by a team led by Dr. Carolin Ulbrich (HZB) and Andreas Bartelt (HTW Berlin) now answers this question.
Inducing cell death in pancreatic cancer cells
Researchers have discovered a previously unknown mechanism that makes most pancreatic cancer cells susceptible to a form of programmed cell death. The team showed that cancer cells with mutations in the KRAS gene develop a vulnerability which can be used to eliminate tumor cells in preclinical models. The findings open up new perspectives for treating pancreatic cancer. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive forms of cancer and has so far shown only limited response to available treatments. In approximately 90 percent of cases, these tumors carry mutations in the KRAS gene that drive cancer growth. Due to the ageing population and the lack of effective therapies, physicians, clinicians, and researchers expect pancreatic carcinoma to become one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide in the coming years. With the discovery of this newly identified vulnerability, a therapeutically promising approach has now been identified for treating this disease following future clinical trials.
The researchers discovered that KRAS-mutated tumor cells continuously activate signals from the innate immune system. This primes the cancer cells for an inflammatory form of cell death known as necroptosis. In order to survive, tumor cells rely heavily on the protein caspase-8, which usually inhibits necroptosis. If caspase-8 is blocked, the tumor cells die. “KRAS-mutated tumors have a previously unknown Achilles heel,” says the senior author of the study. “By switching off the tumor cells’ defence mechanisms, we can significantly kill these tumors.”
Vascular Control Of Aging And Regeneration (Featuring Anjali Kusumbe, PhD)
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