• Work on Restoring Function in Huntington's Disease

    Updated: 2012-05-31 12:49:27
    Researchers "have collaborated on a project to restore neuron function to parts of the brain damaged by Huntington's disease (HD) by successfully transplanting HD-induced pluripotent stem cells into animal models. ... Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be genetically engineered from human somatic cells such as skin, and can be used to model numerous human diseases. They may also serve as sources of transplantable cells that can be used in novel cell therapies. In the latter case, the patient provides a sample of his or her own skin to the laboratory. In the current study, experimental animals with damage to...

  • Aubrey de Grey at TEDxUChicago 2012

    Updated: 2012-05-31 00:31:25
    Aubrey de Grey of the SENS Foundation presented at TEDxChicago 2012 a month ago or so, and video of the event recently made its way to YouTube: Dr. Aubrey de Grey is a biomedical gerontologist. As the Chief Science Officer of the SENS Foundation (a foundation working to develop widespread access to rejuvenation biotechnologies), author of numerous journal articles and books, and board member of a handful of editorial and scientific advisory boards, it is incontestable that Dr. Aubrey de Grey has dedicated his life to the science of combating the aging process. He received his BA and Ph.D. from...

  • A High Level View of What is Known of Aging

    Updated: 2012-05-30 12:49:57
    The Guardian talks to researcher Tom Kirkwood: "We've known for some time that ageing is extremely variable; that everybody is different and that the differences of individuals' experience of ageing are greater than differences in earlier stages of life ... And why so variable? ... Because of the nature of the ageing process. I've been involved in this field for more than 35 years and when I entered it people fondly believed that ageing was programmed; that there was a mechanism inside our bodies that determined how long we would live. It was kind of written into our genes that...

  • Fibroblast Growth Factor and Zebrafish Regeneration

    Updated: 2012-05-30 12:11:15
    Small steps towards understanding the greater regenerative capacity of one species: "When the spinal cord is severed in humans and other mammals, the immune system kicks in, activating specialised cells called glia to prevent bleeding into it. ... Glia are the workmen of the nervous system. The glia proliferate, forming bigger cells that span the wound site in order to prevent bleeding into it. They come in and try to sort out problems. A glial scar forms. ... However, the scar prevents axons, threadlike structures of nerve cells that carry impulses to the brain, of neighbouring nerve cells from penetrating...

  • Tissue Engineering of Small Blood Vessels

    Updated: 2012-05-29 12:41:56
    Researchers are increasingly able to produce networks of small blood vessels - here in a way that is only immediately applicable to testing, but which will no doubt lead to further progress: "bioengineers have developed the first structure to grow small human blood vessels, creating a 3-D test bed that offers a better way to study disease, test drugs and perhaps someday grow human tissues for transplant. ... with this, we can really dissect what happens at the interface between the blood and the tissue. We can start to look at how these diseases start to progress and develop efficient...

  • A Cheap and Abundant Source of Heart Muscle Cells

    Updated: 2012-05-29 12:32:49
    Researchers find a low-cost way of creating cardiomyocytes on demand: they can "transform human stem cells - both embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells - into the critical heart muscle cells by simple manipulation of one key developmental pathway. ... manipulating a major signaling pathway known as Wnt - turning it on and off at prescribed points in time using just two off-the-shelf small molecule chemicals - is enough to efficiently direct stem cell differentiation to cardiomyocytes. ... The technique promises a uniform, inexpensive and far more efficient alternative to the complex bath of serum or growth factors now used...

  • Thoughts on the de Grey/Blakemore Debate on Longevity Science

    Updated: 2012-05-28 15:33:30
    Filmmaker Robert Pappas, who produced To Age or Not to Age, here offers some thoughts on the recent academic debate between Aubrey de Grey and Colin Blakemore: "The debate's title was: 'Resolved this house wants to defeat aging entirely' and was to cover the feasibility and desirability of bringing aging under medical control. After watching the video of the debate; among other things, it strikes me that the title itself helps obscure the nature and process of the scientific research currently underway to extend healthspan, and by implication, lifespan. The problem waxes ironic. To a large degree, Aubrey became 'famous'...

  • Carbon nanotube graphene composite improves downhill bike rim

    Updated: 2012-05-27 02:48:09
    Zyvex Technologies and ENVE Composites have demonstrated the superiority of a proprietary nanostructured composite in downhill cycling.

  • New Darpa program may accelerate synthetic biology path to advanced nanotechnology

    Updated: 2012-05-26 23:04:08
    Darpa has launched a "Living Foundries" program to bring an engineering perspective to synthetic biology to greatly accelerate progress through standardization and modularization.

  • Amyloidosis as the Present Limited Factor on Human Lifespan

    Updated: 2012-05-25 12:20:06
    A theory that has emerged in recent years points to forms of amyloidosis as the final limiting process for human life span. Extremely long-lived people, who have survived or evaded all the common fatal age-related conditions, appear to die because of amyloid buildup. The evidence is good enough for the SENS Foundation to start funding work on a therapy - like all the mechanisms of aging, this is something that can be fixed through appropriate use of biotechnology. Here's a little more on the topic (and a link to a PDF format research paper): "Supercentenarians are persons who have lived...

  • A Gene that Influences Aging, Cancer, and Inflammation

    Updated: 2012-05-25 11:39:58
    An example of the way in which the machinery of cells is very intertwined, components reused by evolution in many different mechanisms: "This was certainly an unexpected finding. It is rather uncommon for one gene to have two very different and very significant functions that tie together control of aging and inflammation. The two, if not regulated properly, can eventually lead to cancer development. It's an exciting scientific find. ... For decades, the scientific community has known that inflammation, accelerated aging and cancer are somehow intertwined, but the connection between them has remained largely a mystery ... What was known...

  • Foresight Presents: “GENOGEN: Regenerating Skin for Life”, with Dr. Nancy Mize

    Updated: 2012-05-21 04:48:19
    Nancy K Mize, PhD, Scientist, Innovator, and CEO of GENOGEN Inc., will continue Foresight's local Bay Area community events with a lecture "GENOGEN: Regenerating Skin for Life". GENOGEN is developing products that activate resident skin stem cells to stimulate local areas of regeneration of skin naturally – the way children heal.

  • Foresight Institute on Singularity Hub (video)

    Updated: 2012-05-12 21:13:14
    Recent interview touches on new Foresight programs and issues in nanotechnology development

  • Revisiting Donaldson v Van de Kamp: A Comparative Constitutional Analysis

    Updated: 2012-05-09 21:04:42
    : Institute for Evidence Based Cryonics Home About Organization What is cryonics Scientists' Open Letter on Cryonics Depressed Metabolism Blog Mailing Lists Sitemap Revisiting Donaldson v Van de Kamp : A Comparative Constitutional Analysis 09. May 2012 Comments Off Categories : News Written by : Aschwin de Wolf on May 9, 2012. An additional speaker has been added to the Symposium on Cryonics and Brain-Threatening Disorders . line-up Keegan Macintosh Revisiting  Donaldson v Van de Kamp A Comparative Constitutional Analysis Suffering from a malignant brain tumour , Thomas Donaldson petitioned the California Superior Court in 1990 for a declaration that he had a constitutionally-protected right to premortem cryopreservation” . His petition was denied , and his subsequent appeal dismissed . In

  • Legal Protection of Cryonics Patients, Part 2

    Updated: 2012-05-05 22:19:26
    , Institute for Evidence Based Cryonics Home About Organization What is cryonics Scientists' Open Letter on Cryonics Depressed Metabolism Blog Mailing Lists Sitemap Legal Protection of Cryonics Patients , Part 2 05. May 2012 Comments Off Categories : Cryonics Tags : Cryonics Hostile Relatives Human Rights Legal Protection Resuscitation Trusts Wills Written by : Keegan Macintosh on May 5, 2012. This article series seeks to compare the legal protection of cryonics patients under their present legal status to the legal protection which would be afforded them if they were recognized as persons under the law , thinking ahead to such future time as it becomes reasonably possible to put legal and political pressure towards enhanced legal recognition of cryonics patients . The previous article

  • Mounting graphene on boron nitride improves its electronic properties

    Updated: 2012-04-22 01:44:34
    Creating a superlattice by placing graphene on boron nitride may allow control of electron motion in graphene and make graphene electronics practical.

  • Reminder: Net Smart Future Salon with Howard Rheingold

    Updated: 2012-04-10 18:05:00

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