Category: Biotechnology/Medical

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Biotechnology/Medical Blog

Better Healthcare Marketplace is Needed

Better healthcare marketplaces are needed.

Challenge Solution
Needs to incorporate human longevity approaches Provide a clinic that provides options to a decentralized network of human longevity providers
Currently, it’s a blackbox in terms of selecting best practices, transparency of data, and accountability over decisions made Rank top practices, subject to peer review. Share data in the cloud. Provide feedback/biomarkers throughout the process.
Cost Create a competitive network. Competition is mostly based on a select geographic region
Reduce Risk/errors Standardize and automate procedures. Share data on the cloud
Difference of Opinions between experts Apply second opinions and peer reviewed research.
Needs Remote Options Provide accessibility via web/mobile/IOT
Insurance providers have misaligned incentives and claims process is not smooth. Provide alternative payment plans/better options.
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Biotechnology/Medical

Consciousness

Questions:

  • Can consciousness be backed up?
  • Can it be transmitted?
  • Can it be preserved?
  • How can it be modelled/mapped?
  • How can it be duplicated?
  • If someone is frozen and survives upon being unfrozen, what is their consciousness like (eg. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/frozen-man-revived-brink-death-found-snow-pulse/story?id=36380318)
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Biotechnology/Medical

Approaches to Keep a Healthy Body

What is the most promising method to replace all organs in the body?

a) Is it to use gene editing in combination with stem cells (eg. http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/46810/title/Using-CRISPR-to-Edit-Genes-in-Induced-Pluripotent-Stem-Cells/) to rejuvenate all organs or b) is simply harvesting new organs through a backup body and replacing them all periodically the better approach. c) combine human body parts with non human body parts to maximize lifespan (eg. use synthetic hearts, lungs, livers etc)

I think the likely best long term approach might be c).

However, the major challenge is preserving the brain, which would need to be backed up and perfectly copied to ensure the person was the “same”

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Biotechnology/Medical Blog

Potential CRISPR Healthspan applications

Potential CRISPR Healthspan applications:

  • TFAM (Transcription Factor A, Mitochondrial) – gene engineering allows cells to manufacture a nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) precursor on their own
    • Allows “overall rejuvenation, including reversal of signs of muscle atrophy, inflammation, and insulin resistance”
  • GDF11 (growth differentiation factor 11) – GDF11 has been reported to rejuvenate the heart, muscles, and brain: “GDF11 has been reported to rejuvenate the heart,8 muscles,9 and brain.10 It restores strength, muscle regeneration, memory, the formation of new brain cells, blood vessel formation in the brain, the ability to smell, and mitochondrial function. All of this is done by just one molecule. Infusing young plasma, which contains GDF11, into older animals also provides benefits in other tissues, such as the liver and spinal cord, and improves the ability of old brain cells to form connections with one another.”
  • Targeting genes related to muscles and bones

“We’ve shifted from trying to make a young animal live longer to rejuvenating an old animal to a younger state. This is a complete shift in perspective. When people originally thought about aging, they assumed it had a lot to do with accumulation of mutations, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Genetically, your genome is intact. There are no mutations that are causing the aging process. What’s going on when you age is that you get this drift in the regulation of these gene networks so that you have a cell that’s supposed to be, say, a skin cell, but then it starts expressing genes that it’s not supposed to be expressing.” – Dr. Bobby Dhadwar

 

Categories
Biotechnology/Medical

4 Pathways to Reverse Damage/Aging

  1. Use Telomerase activators: “Drugs that turn on our own telomerase (using the HTERT gene) and thereby reset gene expression.”
  2. Use Telomerase Protein
  3. “Use messenger RNA for telomerase (accomplished by Helen Blau’s group at Stanford)”
  4. “Deliver telomerase gene itself (either via liposomes or viral vectors) to the body’s cells”
    1. Several groups are doing this include Telocyte.  Telocyte uses adeno-associated viral delivery.

Source: Michael Fossel – Telomerase Revolution