Lifeboat Foundation

Today, we would like to share with you a talk by Dr. Michael West from AgeX Therapeutics, a company developing therapies to combat age-related diseases by encouraging the body to regenerate cells and tissues.

On July 12th, we hosted our first conference, Ending Age-Related Diseases: Investment Prospects & Advances in Research, at the Frederick P. Rose Auditorium, which is part of the Cooper Union campus in New York City. The packed event saw a range of people from research, investment, and the wider community coming together for a day of science and biotech business presentations and panels.

Continue reading “The Reversibility of Human Aging” »

LEAF’s Rejuvenation Roundup September 2018 is out!

Happy autumn—or spring, if you live in the southern hemisphere! Be as it may, in a post-aging world, the season of your health would always be summer; let’s see how much closer we got to that world during last September.

LEAF News

Continue reading “Rejuvenation Roundup September 2018” »

Even with an increasing number of articles about aging and rejuvenation technologies in mass media, the general public’s lack of information remains a problem. Pro-longevity organizations try to spread useful information; however, it’s clear that this information is, quite often, only delivered to current members of the community instead of to a new audience. My work at LEAF is partially focused on finding ways to break this border and explore new social territories as often as possible. Last week, this journey brought me to a meeting with a title that speaks for itself: Death Cafe.

What is Death Cafe?

A Death Cafe is not a place. It is a meeting at which people are encouraged to discuss everything related to death over a cup of tea. The official mission of this community is defined as follows: “Our objective is to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” It is not a form of group therapy, not a support group or a survivors’ group (though only the living can attend…); rather, it’s just a space where people can talk to each other about a topic that is usually excluded from public dialogue.

Continue reading “Death Cafes and Life Extension: The Possibility of Synergy” »

Duca.

This announcement was made in the presence of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China.

At the 69th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China reception.

Continue reading “Longevity Impact Forum announced the partnership with European Federation of Academies of Sciences Board Executive G” »

A recent open-access mouse study published by Xi’an Institute of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine scientists in the journal Bone Research describes how the ALPL gene affects bone aging and suggests that metformin might constitute a viable therapeutic option to prevent it [1].

Study abstract

Mutations in the liver/bone/kidney alkaline phosphatase (Alpl) gene cause hypophosphatasia (HPP) and early-onset bone dysplasia, suggesting that this gene is a key factor in human bone development. However, how and where Alpl acts in bone ageing is largely unknown. Here, we determined that ablation of Alpl induces prototypical premature bone ageing characteristics, including bone mass loss and marrow fat gain coupled with elevated expression of p16INK4A (p16) and p53 due to senescence and impaired differentiation in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Mechanistically, Alpl deficiency in MSCs enhances ATP release and reduces ATP hydrolysis. Then, the excessive extracellular ATP is, in turn, internalized by MSCs and causes an elevation in the intracellular ATP level, which consequently inactivates the AMPKα pathway and contributes to the cell fate switch of MSCs.

Continue reading “Switching Off ALPL Gene Contributes to Bone Aging” »

The Imagine Science Films Festival is happening on October 12-19th, 2018 in New York, at a variety of venues, and this year, it is featuring a theme close to home: survival.

Crisis. Entropy. Extinction. This year we look at the high stakes for all life on Earth and beyond. Between nuclear proliferation, species loss and dwindling resources, existence itself is not assured. But for every dystopia, a corresponding utopia may be within reach. It may be a struggle, but the record of all life is that of an eon-spanning fight to stay alive. We’ll feature tumultuous natural history and startling feats of adaptation. Apoptosis versus immortal cell lines. Half-lives and radical life extension. The deaths of stars and extraordinary paths to SURVIVAL.

With this year’s theme including life extension, we may well see some interesting and thought-provoking films on the topic. Lifespan.io is also an official event sponsor for the festival, as we strongly feel that the worlds of filmmaking and science can be a perfect match in helping to encourage a wider dialogue about aging and doing something about it.

Today, we have an interview with Dr. Michael Bonkowski, an expert on NAD+ biology and aging from the David Sinclair Lab, Harvard Medical School.

Michael Bonkowski aims to advance our understanding of the links between metabolism, aging, and age-associated diseases. He has published 35 peer-reviewed journal articles and has conducted multiple successful longevity studies. In Dr. David Sinclair’s lab, his research efforts are focused on the role of nutrient sensors’ regulation of endocrine signaling and aging in the mouse. He is also working on direct and indirect ways to drive the activity of these nutrient sensors by using dietary manipulations, small molecules, and chemical treatments.

Michael is trained as a pharmacologist, physiologist, and animal scientist. Some of his areas of expertise include animal physiology, genetics, glucose, and insulin homeostasis, metabolism, assay development, protein biochemistry, and transmission electron microscopy imaging.

A duty to die at 75 by law?! No need to cure one disease because anyway you will die from another after 65?! A new article uncovers the dangers of going to ‘healthy’ and not longer lifespan:

2) A duty to die becomes greater as you grow older. As we age, we will be giving up less by giving up our lives, if only because we will sacrifice fewer remaining years of life and a smaller portion of our life plans… To have reached the age of, say, seventy-five or eighty years without being ready to die is itself a moral failing, the sign of a life out of touch with life’s basic realities.

3) A duty to die is more likely when you have already lived a full and rich life. You have already had a full share of the good things life offers.

Continue reading “‘Healthspan’ & ‘Duty to Die’ for the Elderly -- Bioethicists Push Health Care Rationing” »