March marks the beginning of spring and the time for renewal, and this month, labs around the world have looked into renewing older concepts of aging and discovered potential methods for renewing our bodies.
LEAF News
Partnership Opportunities for the 5th Annual Age-Related Disease Therapeutics Summit: This conference is seeking partners who want to showcase their companies to biotechnology and investment leaders, listing contract research, biomarkers of aging, epigenetics, and preclinical services as the preferred areas of interest.
Thank you to OneSkin, one of our philanthropic partners who has generously agreed to donate a percentage of their monthly revenue to Lifespan.io, to support our mission of longevity biotechnology advocacy and education.
OneSkin is a longevity company developing products designed to extend skin and body health by targeting aging at its source.
Team and activities
Rep. Bilirakis on the Longevity Science Caucus: We in the longevity field have received powerful allies on Capitol Hill with the creation of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus for Longevity Science. We had the opportunity to ask questions of one of its co-chairs.
Lifespan News
Human Brain Organoids in Rats: Emmett Short talks about how human neurons in rat brains can actually fulfill critical functions in these animals.
NAD+, Fat, and Muscle: On this episode, Emmett Short goes over a new study showing that nicotinamide riboside (NR) increases both fat and muscle.
Best Time to Exercise: This episode features some rather surprising results gleaned from examining the effects of regular morning exercise on UK Biobank participants.
Protein and Muscle: This Lifespan News is on a study showing that diets with less protein are connected to better muscle maintenance with aging.
Exercise and Supplements: Emmett Short talks about a recent meta-study of exercise and supplements, which showed inconclusive results despite its large dataset.
Young Blood for Brain Boosting: This episode discusses a study showing that the brains of old mice benefit by receiving the blood of young mice.
Interviews
Prof. Tzipi Strauss on the Upcoming Longevity Center: In Sheba Medical Center in Israel, the first-of-its-kind Longevity Center will soon open its doors. We spoke with its future director, Prof. Tzipi Strauss, who is also leading the Department of Neonatology at Sheba.
Prof. George Church on Cellular Reprogramming and Longevity: Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, a veteran geroscientist, and a serial entrepreneur, George Church hardly needs an introduction. While we are always happy to discuss the present and future of geroscience with him, this interview focuses on the two gene therapy papers that he recently co-authored.
Ashley Zehnder on Harnessing Animal Genes Against Aging: Many species have developed amazing mechanisms to cope with various drivers of aging. A handful of bold entrepreneurs are trying to go commercial, and one of them is Ashley Zehnder, DVM, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Fauna Bio, a biotech startup that looks for protective genotypes in animals in order to weaponize them against human diseases.
Journal Club
Human Fasting Modulates Macrophage Function: This month, Dr. Oliver Medvedik explored a recent study that looked at the effects of prolonged fasting on human macrophages and how metabolites from that fasting increased median lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Advocacy and Analysis
Insider Insight: Meet the Organizers of LongHack: LongHack, the longevity hackathon hosted by DeSci organization VitaDAO, was held on January 20th-23rd, 2023. Gathering researchers, developers, and other interested parties to create new tools and solutions for longevity, ten teams competed to impress the judging panel and take home prizes.
A Lasting Rise in Investment in the Longevity Sector: 2021 marked one of the biggest years in longevity financing, with 2022 following closely behind. Over the past ten years, the industry has grown in financing from $500 million in 2013 to a peak of $6.2 billion in 2021.
Dr. Nir Barzilai on How to Age Later: In “Age Later: Healthspan, Lifespan, and the New Science of Longevity,” Dr. Nir Barzilai provides an insightful and comprehensive overview of the latest research on aging and longevity.
Research Roundup
Association Between BMI and Mortality Revisited: Ryan K. Masters, professor at CU Boulder, suggests that when adjusted for body shape and lifelong shifts, the relationship between BMI and mortality is more linear and robust than previously thought, with normal BMI being the healthiest.
Exercise and Supplements Against Age-Related Inflammation: In a new systematic review, researchers have shown that combining some dietary supplements and exercise might be beneficial for people over the age of 60.
How NAD+ Relates to Smell Loss with Age: Researchers publishing in Aging Cell have elucidated a relationship between aging, the loss of smell, and NAD+ in a mouse model. Roughly half of people over the age of 65 experience a decreased ability to smell, and research has shown that it is an early biomarker for neurodegenerative diseases.
Extracellular Vesicles as a Hallmark of Aging: A review paper published in Cells has described multiple ways in which the secretion of extracellular vesicles changes with aging, leading the authors to propose it as its own hallmark.
New Small Molecule Alleviates Alzheimer’s in Mouse Model: Scientists have developed a custom-made molecule that targets a post-translationally modified kinase linked to Alzheimer’s, improving symptoms in a murine model of the disease.
Metformin and Rapamycin Rejuvenate Stem Cells in Mice: In a new study published in Aging Cell, researchers have shown that two promising anti-aging agents, the antibiotic rapamycin and the anti-diabetic drug metformin, reverse aging in a population of intestinal stem cells.
Young Blood Alters Gene Expression in Old Brain Cells: Research published in Nature Aging has shown that heterochronic parabiosis, the circulatory joining of young and old organisms, has rejuvenative effects on the gene expression of multiple types of brain cells in mice.
New Treatment Alleviates Depression Symptoms in Mice: Scientists have shown that the protein GDF11 can reverse depression-like symptoms in naturally aged mice and in a mouse model of depression.
Mitochondria, DNA, and Oxidative Stress: A paper published in Experimental Gerontology has provided a fresh and detailed look at the effects of oxidative stress on longevity. The free radical theory of aging, which purports that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are the core driver of aging, was developed all the way back in 1956.
Epigenetic Biomarker for Measuring Aging Through Fitness: A new biomarker for measuring biological aging based on physical fitness has been published in Aging, and it has been found to be useful in predicting health issues.
Excessive Fat, Not Sugar, Leads to Obesity in Mice: In a new study published in Endocrinology and Metabolism, researchers have shown that fat rather than sugar is the macronutrient that drives obesity and other detrimental metabolic changes if it constitutes a large proportion of dietary calories.
Inflammation Strongly Predicts Mortality After Statin Use: Analyzing data from three clinical trials, scientists have shown that excessive inflammation is a much stronger predictor of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in patients on statins than excessive LDL cholesterol levels.
Sleep Apnea and Inflammatory Biomarkers of Tooth Decay: A study published in Heliyon has explained a relationship between sleep apnea and an increase of inflammatory factors in the mouth that are connected to the gum disease peridontitis.
The Human Cost of Metabolic Diseases: A new paper published in Cell Metabolism has shown the growing influence of metabolic diseases in an aging population. Metabolic diseases include hypertension, type 2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia, obesity, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Mediterranean Diet Might Lower Risk of Dementia: In a large-scale observational study, British scientists have shown that high levels of adherence to the Mediterranean diet might substantially lower the risk of dementia. The Mediterranean diet, is based on ingredients such as olive oil, vegetables, legumes, fish, and whole grains.
Vital Muscle Enzyme Declines With Aging: Research published in Nature Metabolism has described PCYT2, an enzyme essential for muscle function, and how it declines with aging. A necessary lipid synthesizer in muscle Human beings need PCYT2 as part of the Kennedy pathway to synthesize two critical components of the phosopholipid membrane that surrounds cells.
Long-Term Resistance Exercise Increases Autophagy: In a new systemic review published in Autophagy Reports, researchers have demonstrated that exercise plays a role in regulating autophagy, depending on its type. Autophagy is the way cells break down misbehaving or nonfunctional organelles and proteins in the cell.
Promoting Muscle Regeneration With an Immune Factor: A paper published today in Nature Aging has shown that a macrophage-regulating factor has a significant impact on muscle regeneration.
Vesicles from Senescent Cells Encourage Young Stem Cells: Scientists have shown that extracellular vesicles derived from senescent stem cells can improve the proliferation, viability, and migration capacity of healthy stem cells.
Senescent Cells and Loose Teeth: A team of researchers has recently published a study on the effects of senescence on periodontal tissues, which hold teeth to bone, in Aging.
Inhibiting DREAM for Enhanced DNA Damage Repair: In a new study published in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, researchers have demonstrated that by manipulating the DREAM protein complex, a major regulator of DNA damage response, it might be possible to alter the number of DNA mutations accumulated with age.
Using AI to Measure Age Through the Eyes: An accepted manuscript in eLife Sciences has described eyeAge, a new clock that uses deep learning to analyze the eye in detail in order to predict chronological age and age acceleration.
Daily Step Count, Less Mortality, Diminishing Returns: A new study using wearable accelerometers suggests that you don’t have to clock extreme numbers of steps every day to stay healthy.
Associations of sleeping, sedentary and physical activity with phenotypic age acceleration: Sedentary behavior was positively associated with aging. Replacing sedentary behaviors with walking/bicycling or moderate to vigorous physical activity was adversely associated with aging among adults.
Coenzyme Q10 supplementation improves the motor function of middle-aged mice by restoring the neuronal activity of the motor cortex: This study shows that CoQ10 improves brain mitochondrial function and physical performance in mice.
Increased SIRT1 Concentration Following Four Years of Selenium and Q10 Intervention Associated with Reduced Cardiovascular Mortality at 10-Year Follow-Up: This study suggests that this combination increases SIRT1 in a way that helps to prevent vascular aging.
Dietary magnesium intake is related to larger brain volumes and lower white matter lesions with notable sex differences: Higher dietary magnesium intake has been found to be associated with better brain health in the general population, particularly women.
Potential reversal of biological age in women following an 8-week methylation-supportive diet and lifestyle program: There was a statistically significant (p=.039) difference in the participants’ mean biological age before (55.83 years) and after (51.23 years) the 8-week diet and lifestyle intervention, with an average decrease of 4.60 years.
Six-Month Synbio® Administration Affects Nutritional and Inflammatory Parameters of Older Adults: The PROBIOSENIOR project demonstrated how SYNBIO® supplementation may positively influence some nutritional and inflammatory parameters in the elderly.
Mendelian randomization analyses reveal causal relationships between the human microbiome and longevity: These findings strongly implicate that these commensal microbes play a role in human longevity and suggest that they should be monitored to promote longevity.
AAV1.NT-3 gene therapy prevents age-related sarcopenia: The researchers reported functional, in vivo muscle physiology improvements
Transcriptional activation of endogenous Oct4 via the CRISPR/dCas9 activator ameliorates Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome in mice: These results suggest that partial rejuvenation by activating this Yamanaka factor can be used as a novel strategy in treating geriatric diseases.
Ageing as a software design flaw: Well-known aging researcher João Pedro de Magalhães expands on the idea that aging is the result of misguided genetic programming rather than entropic damage.
Necroptosis inhibition counteracts neurodegeneration, memory decline, and key hallmarks of aging, promoting brain rejuvenation: These results demonstrate that necroptosis, which mediates degeneration of injured axons, contributes to age-dependent brain degeneration.
Effect of peripheral cellular senescence on brain aging and cognitive decline: Preserved cognition was associated with the removal of peripheral senescent cells, which decreased the systemic inflammation that normally drives neuroinflammation, BBB breakdown, and impaired synaptic function.
Immunotherapeutic approach to reduce senescent cells and alleviate senescence-associated secretory phenotype in mice: These results show that HCW9218 represents a novel immunotherapeutic approach and a clinically promising new class of senotherapeutic agents targeting cellular senescence-associated diseases.
Coming up
The Fifth Annual Age-Related Disease Therapeutics Summit: The Age-Related Disease Therapeutics Summit will once again be held in San Francisco this year, and Lifespan.io readers are encouraged to use the code 32026Lifespan when signing up.
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