April showers bring May flowers, and we’ve got a shower of interviews, new research, and press releases this month. Here’s what’s happened in rejuvenation in April.
LEAF News
Lifespan Docs: Doug Vakoch of METI: Created by Tim Maupin and sponsored by Lifespan.io, this Lifespan Docs documentary features Doug Vakoch of METI, who wishes to live longer to have any hope of receiving responses to interstellar messages.
EARD2021
Daniel Belsky on DunedinPACE: Daniel Belsky discussed the DunedinPACE and DunedinPoAm biomarkers and how biomarkers that measure the pace of aging might prove useful in the development of geroprotectors.
Lifespan News
Metformin Birth Defects: On this week’s episode of Lifespan News, Ryan O’Shea discusses some alarming research suggesting that metformin is linked to birth defects.
Avatars for Longevity: This week’s episode of Lifespan News is on the idea of using a virtual body in place of a physical one, which can help to mitigate risks. These include digital avatars that will represent us in virtual worlds where we’re increasingly likely to be working, shopping, socializing, and exploring.
The Branding Problem: Altos Labs doesn’t want to be known as a rejuvenation company, and this episode focuses on why.
Interviews
Raiany Romanni on the Ethical Aspects of Life Extension: Raiany Romanni is a Harvard Kennedy Fellow in Effective Altruism, an A360 Scholar, a Stanford Existential Risk Fellow, and a bioethicist. She is currently working on a non-fiction book aimed at catalyzing the ethics of longevity research, while suggesting that aging is the costliest of all human diseases.
Dr. Steven Austad on Aging in Wild and Lab Animals: Dr. Steven Austad of the University of Alabama at Birmingham is not a typical geroscientist, or at least, he did not become one in a typical way.
Discussing Low-Dose Naltrexone with Sajad Zalzala: Dr. Sajad Zalzala, co-founder of AgelessRx, prescribes naltrexone for a variety of conditions and is currently enrolling patients in clinical trials for its effectiveness against the lingering effects of COVID-19 as well as for longevity. We caught up with him to discuss the progress in this area.
Science to Save the World
Ultrasound for Diabetes: Applying ultrasound to the liver might stimulate it to better control blood glucose, offering a potential treatment for diabetes.
Rejuvenation Roundup Podcast
Ryan O’Shea of Future Grind hosts this month’s podcast, showcasing the events and research discussed here.
Journal Club
Aging Theory: The Hyperfunction Theory of Aging: Journal Club returned on Tuesday, April 26th at noon Eastern time on our Facebook page. Dr. Oliver Medvedik took a look at the recent paper ‘The hyperfunction theory: an emerging paradigm for the biology of aging’. This episode saw us taking a dive into the world of aging theory.
Research Roundup
New Candidate Drug Extends Lifespan in Male Mice: Scientists from Mayo Clinic have significantly extended lifespan in male mice by inhibiting the enzyme CD38, which lowers NAD levels. The age-related decline of nicotinamide dinucleotide (NAD) has been associated with various metabolic abnormalities, age-related diseases, and fitness loss.
Senolytics Restore a-Klotho in Mice and Humans: New senolytics data was released from Dr. James L. Kirkland’s Mayo Clinic lab and published in The Lancet. Prior studies have shown that the a-Klotho protein decreases with age in mice and humans.
A Phase 1 Clinical Trial of Stem Cells for Alzheimer’s: A paper published in the journal of the Alzheimer’s Association has revealed the results of a Phase 1 clinical trial of stem cells for Alzheimer’s disease.
Ginger Extract Shows Strong Senolytic Effect: A paper supported by the National Institute on Aging has shown that gingerenone A, a component of ginger extract, is a natural senolytic that is potentially more powerful and less toxic than the combination of dasatinib and quercetin.
Senolytics Improve Resistance Training in Old Mice: A paper published in GeroScience has reported that older mice taking the well-known senolytic combination of dasatinib and quercetin (D+Q) are able to build muscle more like young mice.
One Cycle of Partial Reprogramming for Tissue Rejuvenation: Scientists have shown that a single cycle of partial cellular reprogramming leads to various changes in the tissues, but about half of them gradually disappear after the treatment.
Fundamental Protein Regulator Increases Lifespan in Flies: Increasing an important protein regulator improves the lifespan of Drosophila flies, according to a new paper published in Aging.
Mutation Burden Explains Species’ Differences in Lifespan: In a study published in Nature, scientists have found an extremely strong correlation between somatic mutation rate and lifespan across several species, highlighting the importance of mutation burden for aging.
Small Molecule Protects Against Oxidative Aging in Egg Cells: A group of researchers has documented in Aging that Epitalon, a synthetic peptide made of four amino acids, slows the aging of egg cells (oocytes) after ovulation. Oocyte aging is well-known to lead to fertilization deficiencies and a host of other problems that are visible in the cells themselves.
Toll-like Receptor Deletion Improves Memory in Aged Mice: In a new study, genetic deletion of the TLR4 receptor ameliorated aspects of age-related cognitive decline in naturally aging mice, probably due to decreased inflammation. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is a member of an ancient, highly evolutionary conserved family of proteins.
Combining Caloric Restriction and Rapamycin: A new study published in Nature Communications has found that rapamycin, which is often considered to be a calorie restriction mimetic, has different and additive effects to caloric restriction in muscle tissue.
Plastic Nanoparticles in Cellular Senescence and Dysfunction: Scientists have found that exposure to plastic nanoparticles, a worldwide pollutant, drives cellular senescence and dysfunction in endothelial cells taken from a pig’s coronary artery.
A Genetic Analysis of Chronic Inflammation: Nature Communications has recently published a paper discussing the genetic sources of C-reactive protein, a well-known biomarker of chronic inflammation. This is an extremely broad study of a wide variety of genes.
Early Life Rapamycin Treatment Effective in Flies and Mice: In a preprint paper, scientists have shown that treating drosophila flies and mice with rapamycin for a relatively brief period in early life mostly recapitulates the effects of a lifelong treatment, including lifespan extension in flies.
An Epigenetic Clock for Brain Age and Alzheimer’s Disease: The risk of Alzheimer’s disease goes up with age, and the number of people living with Alzheimer’s is growing. While it is known to be associated with the loss of proteostasis, it has also been found to be associated with epigenetic alterations.
Synergy Between Stem Cell Rejuvenation and Senolytics: In a preprint published in bioRxiv, a team of Singaporean researchers, including Jan Gruber, has found that a combination of stem cell rejuvenation and senescent cell removal is synergistically more effective than either alone.
Cellular Reprogramming Boosts Liver Regeneration in Mice: Scientists have shown that partial cellular reprogramming can significantly increase the already impressive regenerative capacity of the liver and protect this crucial organ from a potentially lethal injury.
Corylin Shown to Affect Multiple Processes of Aging: A new publication in Nature Communications has revealed that corylin, which is derived from the Chinese herb Psoralea corylifolia, increases the lifespan of model organisms through well-known pathways of aging.
Metformin in Fathers Linked to Birth Defects: A large-cohort population study from Denmark has linked metformin to a 40% increase in the risk of birth defects when taken by fathers during the spermatozoa development period.
Nutrition, longevity and disease: From molecular mechanisms to interventions: The researchers analyze aging and nutrition studies in simple organisms, rodents, monkeys, and humans to link longevity to conserved growth and metabolic pathways and outline their role in aging and age-related disease.
Oral Administration of Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Is Safe and Efficiently Increases Blood NAD in Healthy Subjects: These results suggest that oral administration of NMN is a safe and practical strategy to boost NAD+ levels in humans.
Combining adoptive NK cell infusion with a dopamine-releasing peptide reduces senescent cells in aged mice: The researchers observed the downregulation of senescence-related genes by adoptive infusion of natural killer (NK) cells in 26 cases in peripheral blood CD3+ T cells.
Association of Cumulative Blood Pressure With Cognitive Decline, Dementia, and Mortality: Long-term cumulative BP was associated with subsequent cognitive decline, dementia risk, and all-cause mortality in cognitively healthy adults aged at least 50 years.
The brain structure and genetic mechanisms underlying the nonlinear association between sleep duration, cognition and mental health: Genetic mechanisms and brain structural changes may underlie the nonlinear relationship between sleep duration and cognition and mental health.
Cannabidiol induces autophagy and improves neuronal health associated with SIRT1 mediated longevity: These findings collectively indicate the anti-aging benefits of CBD treatment, in both in vitro and in vivo models, and its potential to improve neuronal health and longevity.
Single Ascending Dose Study of a Short Interfering RNA Targeting Lipoprotein(a) Production: The siRNA SLN360 was well tolerated, and a dose-dependent lowering of plasma concentrations was observed.
Comprehensive analysis of epigenetic clocks reveals associations between disproportionate biological ageing and hippocampal volume: This study presents a link between age acceleration, as determined using DNA methylation, and hippocampal volume that was statistically significant across two highly characterised cohorts.
Combined Vitamin D, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, and a Simple Home Exercise Program May Reduce Cancer Risk Among Active Adults Aged 70 and Older: In this pre-defined exploratory analysis, time-to-development of any verified invasive cancer was the primary outcome in an adjusted, intent-to-treat analysis.
Resveratrol Inhibits Metabolism and Affects Blood Platelet Function in Type 2 Diabetes: Resveratrol may be beneficial to prevent vascular complications as a future complementary treatment in aspirin-resistant diabetic patients.
News Nuggets
Kizoo Company Elastrin Closes $10M Funding Round: The well-known biotechnology holding company Kizoo has engaged in another funding round, this time for Elastrin Therapeutics, a company that focuses on returning stiff tissues to their natural state.
1st VitaDAO Crypto Meets Longevity Symposium: Wednesday, April 13, 2022 from 2:30 PM to 9:30 PM BST will see the first VitaDAO Crypto meets Longevity Symposium. Hosted by Max Unfried and Eleanor Sheekey, the event will be focusing on where the worlds of Web3 and aging research meet.
First Cohort Dosed in Phase 1b Trial of BioAge’s BGE-105: BioAge, a biotechnology company that intends to target aging on the molecular level, has completed a Phase 1b clinical trial of BGE-105, a small molecule that influences muscular metabolism.