Longevity gene therapy and AI – What is on the horizon?
Gene therapy holds promise for extending human lifespan and enhancing healthspan by targeting genes associated with aging processes. Longevity gene therapy, particularly interventions focusing on genes like TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase), Klotho, and Myostatin, is at the forefront of experimental research. Companies such as Bioviva, Libella, and Minicircle are pioneering these interventions, albeit with varying degrees of transparency and scientific rigor.
TERT, Klotho, and Myostatin in Longevity
TERT: The TERT gene encodes for an enzyme essential in telomere maintenance, which is linked to cellular aging. Overexpression of TERT in model organisms has shown potential in lengthening telomeres, potentially delaying aging.
Klotho: This gene plays a crucial role in regulating aging and lifespan. Klotho protein has been associated with multiple protective effects against age-related diseases.
Myostatin: Known for its role in regulating muscle growth, inhibiting Myostatin can result in increased muscle mass and strength, which could counteract some age-related physical decline.
The Experimental Nature of Longevity Gene Therapy
The application of gene therapy for longevity remains largely experimental. Most available data come from preclinical studies, primarily in animal models. Human data are scarce, raising questions about efficacy, safety, and potential long-term effects. The ethical implications of these experimental treatments, especially in the absence of robust data, are significant, touching on issues of access, consent, and potential unforeseen consequences.
Companies Offering Longevity Gene Therapy
Bioviva: Notably involved in this field, Bioviva has been vocal about its endeavors in gene therapy for aging. While they have published some data from mouse studies, human data remain limited.
Libella and Minicircle: These companies also offer longevity gene therapies but face similar challenges in providing comprehensive human data to back their claims.
Industry Perspective vs. Public Discourse
The discourse around longevity gene therapy is predominantly shaped by those within the industry, such as Liz Parrish of Bioviva and Bryan Johnson. While their insights are valuable, they may also be biased towards promoting their interventions. The lack of widespread discussion on platforms like Reddit and Twitter, especially from independent sources or those outside the industry, points to a need for greater transparency and peer-reviewed research.
Get 20% off Google Google Workspace (Google Meet) Standard Plan with the following codes: 96DRHDRA9J7GTN6 Get 20% off Google Workspace (Google Meet) Business Plan (AMERICAS): M9HNXHX3WC9H7YE (Email us for more codes)
Ethical and Regulatory Considerations
The ethical and regulatory landscape for gene therapy is complex, particularly for treatments aimed at non-disease conditions like aging. The experimental status of longevity gene therapies raises significant ethical questions, particularly around informed consent and the potential long-term impacts. Regulatory bodies are tasked with balancing the potential benefits of such innovative treatments against the risks and ethical concerns, requiring a robust framework for clinical trials and approval processes.
Longevity Gene Therapy and AI
Integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into longevity gene therapy represents a groundbreaking intersection of biotechnology and computational sciences. AI and machine learning algorithms are increasingly employed to decipher complex biological data, predict the impacts of genetic modifications, and optimize therapy designs. In the context of longevity gene therapy, AI can analyze vast datasets from genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics to identify new therapeutic targets, understand the intricate mechanisms of aging, and predict individual responses to gene therapies. This computational power enables researchers to simulate the effects of gene editing or modulation before actual clinical application, enhancing the precision and safety of therapies. Furthermore, AI-driven platforms facilitate the personalized tailoring of gene therapy interventions, taking into account the unique genetic makeup of each individual, which is crucial for effective and minimally invasive treatment strategies. The synergy between AI and longevity gene therapy accelerates the pace of discovery and development in this field, promising more rapid translation of research findings into clinical applications that could extend human healthspan and lifespan.
Moving Forward
For longevity gene therapy to advance from experimental to accepted medical practice, several key developments are needed:
Robust Human Clinical Trials: Rigorous, peer-reviewed clinical trials involving human participants are essential to establish the safety and efficacy of gene therapies for longevity.
Transparency and Peer Review: Open sharing of data and peer-reviewed publication of results can help build credibility and foster a more informed public discourse.
Ethical and Regulatory Frameworks: Developing clear ethical guidelines and regulatory pathways for these therapies will be crucial in ensuring they are deployed responsibly.
The future of longevity gene therapy is fraught with challenges but also holds immense promise. As the field evolves, a multidisciplinary approach involving scientists, ethicists, regulators, and the public will be crucial in realizing its potential in a responsible and beneficial manner.
Longevity gene therapy and AI: Annex
What are the top 10 most promising potential longevity therapies being researched?
I think the idea of treating aging as a disease that’s treatable and preventable in some ways is a really necessary focus. The OP works with some of the world’s top researchers using HBOT as part of that process to increase oxygen in the blood and open new pathways in the brain to address cognitive decline and increase HealthSpan (vs. just lifespan). Pretty cool stuff!
HBOT in longevity research stands for “hyperbaric oxygen therapy.” It has been the subject of research for its potential effects on healthy aging. Several studies have shown that HBOT can target aging hallmarks, including telomere shortening and senescent cell accumulation, at the cellular level. For example, a prospective trial found that HBOT can significantly modulate the pathophysiology of skin aging in a healthy aging population, indicating effects such as angiogenesis and senescent cell clearance. Additionally, research has demonstrated that HBOT may induce significant senolytic effects, including increasing telomere length and decreasing senescent cell accumulation in aging adults. The potential of HBOT in healthy aging and its implications for longevity are still being explored, and further research is needed to fully understand its effects and potential applications.
2- Are they also looking into HBOT as a treatment for erectile dysfunction?
Definitely! Dr. Shai Efrati has been doing research around that and had a study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. Dr. Efrati and his team found that 80% of men “reported improved erections” after HBOT therapy: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41443-018-0023-9
Cellular rejuvenation aka partial reprogramming (as someone else already said) but not just by Yamanaka (OSKM) factors or cocktail variants but also by other novel Yamanaka-factor alternatives.
I see a lot of people saying reprogramming, and I think the idea is promising but as someone who worked on reprogramming cells in vitro I can tell you that any proof of concepts in vivo large animal models is far aways.
7- I think plasmapheresis is a technology most likely to be proven beneficial in the near term and also a technology that can be scaled and offered for reasonable prices.
8- Bioelectricity, if we succeed in interpreting the code of electrical signals By which cells communicate , we can control any tissue growth and development including organs regeneration
9- Gene therapy and reprogramming will blow the lid off the maximum lifespan. Turning longevity genes on/expressing proteins that repair cellular damage and reversing epigenetic changes that occur with aging.
10- I don’t think anything currently being researched (that we know of) has the potential to take us to immortality. That’ll likely end up requiring some pretty sophisticated nanotechnology. However, the important part isn’t getting to immortality, but getting to LEV. In that respect, I’d say senolytics and stem cell treatments are both looking pretty promising. (And can likely achieve more in combination than on their own.)
11- Spiroligomers to remove glucosepane from the ECM.
12- Yuvan Research. Look up the recent paper they have with Steve Horvath on porcine plasma fractions.
13- This OP thinks most of the therapies being researched will end up having insignificant effects. The only thing that looks promising to me is new tissue grown from injected stem cells or outright organ replacement. Nothing else will address DNA damage, which results in gene loss, disregulation of gene expression, and loss of suppression of transposable elements.
14- A couple that haven’t been mentioned:
Cancer:
The killer T-cells that target MR-1 and seem to be able to find and kill all common cancer types.
Also Maia Biotech’s THIO (“WILT 2.0”)
Mitochondria: Mitochondrial infusion that lasts or the allotopic expression of the remaining proteins SENS is working on.
15- Look for first updates coming from altos labs.
Altos Labs is a biotechnology research company focused on unraveling the deep biology of cell rejuvenation to reverse disease and develop life extension therapies that can halt or reverse the human aging process. The company’s goal is to increase the “healthspan” of humans, with longevity extension being an “accidental consequence” of their work. Altos Labs is dedicated to restoring cell health and resilience through cell rejuvenation to reverse disease, injury, and disabilities that can occur throughout life. The company is working on specialized cell therapies based on induced pluripotent stem cells to achieve these objectives. Altos Labs is known for its atypical focus on basic research without immediate prospects of a commercially viable product, and it has attracted significant investment, including a $3 billion funding round in January 2022. The company’s research is based on the fundamental biology of cell rejuvenation, aiming to understand and harness the ability of cells to resist stressors that give rise to disease, particularly in the context of aging.
16– not so much a “therapy”but I think research into growing human organs may be very promising long term. Being able to get organ transplants made from your own cells means zero rejection issues and no limitations of supply for transplants. Near term drugs like rampamycin show good potential for slowing the aging process and are in human trials.
What is biological reprogramming technology?
Biological reprogramming technology involves the process of converting specialized cells into a pluripotent state, which can then be directed to become a different cell type. This technology has significant implications for regenerative medicine, disease modeling, and drug discovery. It is based on the concept that a cell’s identity is defined by the gene regulatory networks that are active in the cell, and these networks can be controlled by transcription factors. Reprogramming can be achieved through various methods, including the introduction of exogenous factors such as transcription factors. The process of reprogramming involves the erasure and remodeling of epigenetic marks, such as DNA methylation, to reset the cell’s epigenetic memory, allowing it to be directed to different cell fates. This technology has the potential to create new cells for regenerative medicine and to provide insights into the fundamental basis of cell identity and disease.
See also
Gene Therapy Basics for foundational understanding of gene therapy techniques and applications.
First off, let me sum up my knowledge of AI: I have decades of experience working with exec level members large enterprise corporations in the IT field. I've been retired for a few years and only started following AI over the last year or so, as a hobby. I use Chat GPT or Copilot occasionally and have SDXL installed locally to dabble in some hobby image generation projects. Amazing stuff. Based on all the hype around Open AI staff departures, it sounds like there is a lot of fear around AI being turned lose to have potential damaging outcomes, without proper oversight. It is a legitimate fear, just like with any industry. But with any industry, oversight really should come from a governing body that can oversee ALL entities involved in that industry and NOT be the responsibility of the one currently at the forefront of it all. Do we leave it up to big pharma to decide what safety is needed in a new drug? Do we leave it up to oil companies to determine where they can drill, or car companies to decide what amount of pollution is ok? So why not let our governments do their job - which they are working towards now - to create the safety and ethics guidelines for Open AI and all the others to follow? I'm certain they are in discussions with Open AI and other major contributors to develop the initial framework and it will keep growing from there. Open AI may have the spotlight right now, but with almost all emerging technologies, the greatest advancements usually come from some small, unknown source that stumbles onto something incredible. They are too small to afford having their own team dedicated to ethics. All their focus is on creating the next big thing, so that is where the danger will come from. Those small startups and naturally all the devious users that are looking for ways to do harm to others. So when I see Open AI shuttering those departments or those people exiting for other opportunities, it just seems like the normal flow of business to me. Is this department adding $$ to our bottom line? No? Then let's consider our options. I think this may not be a popular point of view, but I honestly believe it is the inevitable evolution of how safety and ethics in AI will be handled in the future. (I wrote this without the use of any AI or even spell checkers and I am not an AGI trying to pave my way to global domination) submitted by /u/AsheronLives [link] [comments]
I needed to find a combination of numbers within a defined list of numbers that would add up to a specific value. I first asked ChatGPT-4o and it actually was having trouble with it. I then tried ChatGPT-4 and I was provided the correct answer within 10 seconds on the first request. Today while updating some apps I saw the latest AI tool from Google, which is now named Gemini. Considering the horrible start Google has to the AI battle and how focused they were on AI at Google I/O earlier this week, I decided to give it a try on a straight forward comparison. I had high hopes considering they felt it was new and improved enough to not even share the same name as Bard, but the results were...well, they are worth seeing for yourself...... Gemini Conversation: https://gemini.google.com/share/182898f57e86 submitted by /u/gafana [link] [comments]
A man's value in a capitalistic system is his labor. Once the need for labor in the west drops by 30/50/70/90% (depends on your degree of doomerism related to automation) then what is the need for this amount of people? Would it not be more profitable for this system to reduce the overall population by the same percentage? Without jobs these excess people can't consume so they bring nothing to the circulation. So they either become beggars of the state receiving UBI (optimistic) or they're allowed to starve due to this reduced need for workforce. People always bring up industrialization as counter example but it's a bad analogy imo. Industrialization caused restructurization of labor, not it's disappearance (and even then it was a painful transition which lowered quality of life arguably until second industrial revolution). After all the entire point of automation is to reduce need for human labor so I don't see how disappearing jobs are supposed to create equal amount of jobs in other/new sectors. I struggle to see any version of the future where we don't get fucked over by this tech (assuming it progresses to this level) until some point in the future where enough of us have died and the population level dropped enough to match the new order's reduced need for the number of human workers. submitted by /u/well-regarded-regard [link] [comments]
I made a Google Doc with lots of information on AI and its ethics and capabilities to defend it. Check it out here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15myK_6eTxEPuKnDi5krjBM_0jrv3GELs8TGmqOYBvug/ I’m looking for more information and arguments to add to it. This can include research papers on AI, articles, quotes from experts, logical reasoning, or anything else you think will help. Feel free to send it in the comments or DM me. submitted by /u/Which-Tomato-8646 [link] [comments]
Hey everyone, I’m currently working on a project for a client that requires 4 large csvs to be parsed through a GenAI model and then for users to be able to interact with the model. The total token size is around 5million tokens. I’ve tried Azure OpenAI assistants and chat apis… honestly I’m not keen. The models don’t interact well with the data as well, and they hallucinate parts of the datasets. Does anyone have any alternative suggestions, it will need to be a secure service such as AWS or even open source Thanks! submitted by /u/mostcritisedcritic [link] [comments]
I mean I worry about A.I. not being of much use to people with low intelligence but it occurs to me that highly-positioned folks with power would be at that other extreme. They'd still want to cultivate ways to undermine systems that seek to level the playing field. Like no more "white collar" crime; all crooks go to the same shitty jail and eat wack food. No more pricy lawyers getting you off for committing a more creative version of an average man's crime. Wouldn't they just promote systems that maintain the status quo? How does A.I. get beyond that when it's created by people? submitted by /u/heavensdumptruck [link] [comments]
Anyone know what they used to generate the opium bird/erosion bird and if there is an ai video generator for free that could generate something like it? submitted by /u/EntertainerNo600 [link] [comments]
A former OpenAI leader says safety has “taken a backseat to shiny products” at the AI company. https://candorium.com/news/20240517183318507/a-former-openai-leader-says-safety-has-taken-a-backseat-to-shiny-products-at-the-ai-company submitted by /u/10marketing8 [link] [comments]
Hey everyone, I've been mulling over something that seems increasingly plausible with the advancements in AI music generation technology. Imagine this scenario: someone, or even a company, decides to generate millions of AI-created songs – not for the purpose of releasing or selling them but solely to own the copyrights. These songs, complete with lyrics, melodies, and chord progressions, are then kept under wraps. If any independent artist or even a major label inadvertently creates a song that has any resemblance to these AI-generated tracks, they could face lawsuits for copyright infringement. This could be a massive issue given the finite combinations in music and the potential for AI to cover a vast array of these combinations systematically. I'm curious to know if there's been any discussion within the community or among experts about this possibility. It's a scenario that could potentially weaponize copyright law in a way that stifles creativity and puts genuine artists at risk. What are your thoughts on this? submitted by /u/sursill [link] [comments]
Today I Learned (TIL) You learn something new every day; what did you learn today? Submit interesting and specific facts about something that you just found out here.
submitted by /u/ExcaliburShattered [link] [comments]
Reddit Science This community is a place to share and discuss new scientific research. Read about the latest advances in astronomy, biology, medicine, physics, social science, and more. Find and submit new publications and popular science coverage of current research.