If biotech succeeds with aging reversal, regeneration and radically improved gene therapy

Our lives and the world would undergo the highest amount of radical change if certain biotech research succeeds. Mobile internet, ecommerce, cloud computing and internet of things can make a lot of people rich and help grow the world economy but the impact on our lives would pale compared to aging reversal, regeneration, surgical nanorobots and massively improved gene therapy.

One of George Church’s many has a companies is Rejuvenate Bio. This is a stealth company that has been running tests to reverse aging in dogs.

The aging reversal dog trials are this year and next year. Human trials would be in 2019-2022 and about 2025 before they are done.

They have a pipeline of more than 60 different gene therapies, which it is testing on old mice, alone and in combinations. The Harvard group now plans to publish a scientific report on a technique that extends rodents’ lives by modifying two genes to act on four major diseases of aging: heart and kidney failure, obesity, and diabetes. According to Church, the results are “pretty eye-popping.”

Oisin Biotechnology is a leader in removing senescent cells for antiaging. They have shown p16 positive senescent cells can be killed on demand in both in vitro and in vivo environments. Now they have started on experiments that will show improvements in both healthspan and lifespan in model organisms from mice to primates. They were able to extend the life of mice by 25% and reduce cancer by 50% with one of the gene therapies. A combination of gene therapies could double the lifespan of mice.

Acceleration with AI in finding and understanding genes and surgical nanobots and other technology could deliver gene therapy to trillions of cells in the body

AI is accelerating the analysis and understanding of genes.

Surgical nanobot technology could enable whole-body gene therapy. This could be used to apply reverse aging biotech or gene therapy to improve human intelligence or enhance health and performance.

Surgical Nanobots

In 2015, Pfizer started working with the DNA robot laboratory managed by Prof. Ido Bachelet at Bar-Ilan University. Bachelet has developed a method of producing innovative DNA molecules with characteristics that can be used to “program” them to reach specific locations in the body and carry out pre-programmed operations there in response to stimulation from the body. This cooperation was revealed in a lecture by Pfizer president of worldwide research and development (WRD), portfolio strategy and investment committee chairman, and executive VP Mikael Dolstein at the IATI Biomed Conference in Tel Aviv being concluded today.

Bachelet studied under George Church.

Research will focus on the possibility that the robots will deliver the medical proteins to designated tissue.
Bachelet came to Bar-Ilan from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) several years ago. At a Tedmed event held two years ago, he explained, “In order to make a nanometric robot, we first create a selected DNA sequence, and then fold it using a process called DNA origami. With this method, a person can give a command to a computer, which folds the DNA molecule as needed.

“The result is that a DNA sequence can be made in the form of a clam, for example, and containing a drug. The DNA molecule, however, contains a code activated upon encountering certain materials in the body. For example, the clam can be designed to change its shape and release the drug only when it meets a cancer cell or the right tissue.

“In addition, the molecules can receive signals from each other, and can theoretically change their shape according to signals from the body, and can be pre-programmed to attach themselves to one another. In the future, it will be possible to combine each such molecule with a miniature antenna. When the antenna receives an external signal, it will make a small change in the molecule that will make it open or close, and dissipate or connect itself to another molecule.”

If this treatment works this will be a medical breakthrough and can be used for many other diseases by delivering drugs more effectively without causing side effects.

Full Regeneration

AgeX is a company developing powerful regeneration as a path to anti-aging treatments.

Induced Tissue Regneration (ITR)

Some naturally-occurring animals such as the Mexican salamander can profoundly regenerate damaged tissues. Humans also have this potential, but only in the first weeks of pre-embyro development. Using advanced molecular and artificial intelligence technologies, AgeX has identified pathways they believe may provide means of unlocking this profound biology in human medicine. The pathways suggest that they may also be integral to the biology of aging and cancer as well. Patents relating to this emerging technology called induced Tissue Regeneration (iTR), have been filed and animal studies are currently underway. iTR was the subject of a recent conference presentation from AgeX CEO Dr. Michael West.

Michael West has an online copy of a presentation that was on Dec 6, 2017.