Today, we have another update from Dr. Matthew “Oki” O’Connor, the MitoSENS lead researcher.
Hi everyone, it’s been an amazing few months. In short, we have been tremendously successful in our efforts to rescue a mutation in the mitochondrial genome!
Essentially, we’ve shown that we can relocate both ATP6 and ATP8 to the nucleus and target the proteins to the mitochondria. We’ve shown that the proteins incorporate into the correct protein complex (the ATPase) and that they improve function, resulting in more ATP production. Finally, we’ve shown that the rescued cells can survive and grow under conditions that require mitochondrial energy production while the mutant cells all die.
We have finished writing up our results and submitted them for review and publication. It may take a while for our results to be published, as the peer review process can be lengthy, but as soon as they are, I’ll post an update here so that you can see the full paper.
We have also started the project on which you helped us get to our stretch goal. We have made all the combinations of MTS with ATP6 that we proposed and are now working on testing them. I’ll let you know when we know more.
Thank you so much for your support!
Oki
Steve serves on the LEAF Board of Directors and is the Editor in Chief, coordinating the daily news articles and social media content of the organization. He is an active journalist in the aging research and biotechnology field and has to date written over 600 articles on the topic, interviewed over 100 of the leading researchers in the field, hosted livestream events focused on aging, as well as attending various medical industry conferences.
His work has been featured in H+ magazine, Psychology Today, Singularity Weblog, Standpoint Magazine, Swiss Monthly, Keep me Prime, and New Economy Magazine.
Steve is one of three recipients of the 2020 H+ Innovator Award and shares this honour with Mirko Ranieri – Google AR and Dinorah Delfin – Immortalists Magazine. The H+ Innovator Award looks into our community and acknowledges ideas and projects that encourage social change, achieve scientific accomplishments, technological advances, philosophical and intellectual visions, author unique narratives, build fascinating artistic ventures, and develop products that bridge gaps and help us to achieve transhumanist goals.
Steve has a background in project management and administration which has helped him to build a united team for effective fundraising and content creation, while his additional knowledge of biology and statistical data analysis allows him to carefully assess and coordinate the scientific groups involved in the project.
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