Is This the Key to Reversing Aging?

I've mentioned this before in another article (see here ).  Age is something that can be treated with a better understanding of the human body and great treatment technologies.

In essence, research shows that aging is a deterioration of human cells eventually leading to a critical part of the body shutting down.  The cells of the heart, brain, lungs or other tissues just get too badly damaged that the tissues and systems just can't function anymore.  And then we pass away.

Organizations like Human Longevity, inc. and the SENS Research Foundation in the US are focusing their entire resources in finding treatments for one or several of the 7 biological causes of aging:

1. Cell loss / atrophy
2. Death-resistant cells
3. Nuclear mutations and epimutations
4. mtDNA mutations
5. Protein crosslinks
6. Junk accumulated inside cells
7. Junk accumulated outside cells

I mentioned earlier this year there was a treatment that was going to human trials sometime in 2017 that would help with the some causes of aging (nuclear mutations and mtDNA mutations). 

Scientists have also made some headway in correcting another cellular problem that occurs with age:  cell loss without any replacements.  You've probably heard that cells divide only a certain number of times in our body's life (those that aren't stem cells that is, which is the majority of the cells in our body).  Scientists think that this is because of a part of our chromosomes, the tail ends, or telomeres, which shorten with time, eventually making cellular division impossible.  Thus cells that die don't get replaced, leading to a whole lot of aging-related issues.

Researchers at the Houston Methodist Research Institute did some research recently with patients affected by progeria.  Progeria is a genetic disease where babies are born with accelerated aging, to such an extent that they look like 80 year olds by the age of 12 or so, and typically die of age-related issues by the age of 15.   The researchers treated patients with RNA molecules that encode RNA telomerase forcing the progeria patients to produce RNA telomerase in their own cells.  RNA telomerase then works on elongating the telomeres in each cell.  

The results were encouraging because most patients' cells started dividing normally again, helping with the regeneration of tissues and also reducing the amount of inflammatory proteins the cells produce (toxic in high levels).  In essence, the laboratory was able to reverse part of the person's aging processes by making the cells act as if they were younger.  

Other laboratories are working on fixing the gene that causes this problem in the first place, possibly using the CRISPR protein complex.  That would be best.  However, the work of the Houston laboratory does relieve the disease's symptoms in patients and have given us a tool that could be used on anyone to help counter and reverse some of the processes related to aging.

That's great stuff but to me the most impressive discovery around aging came from the researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who have found that adult stem cells located specifically in the hypothalamus may be responsible to activate multiple mechanisms of aging altogether.

I talk about this particular discovery further and it's potential impacts in the video below:

Now, we know that these hypothalamus stem cells are responsible for neurogenesis (the generation of new neurons) and we know from measurements that the population of these specific stem cells decreases as an animal ages (including humans).

We also know from the research that these stem cells produce what we call micro RNA (miRNA) that seem to have no other function except for regulating the expression of various genes in the body.  Contrary to most RNA that never leave the cell where they are produced, these flow into the bloodstream and enter other cells in the body.  So as the population of these stem cells decreases with time, less miRNA is produced ergo fewer genes that are regulated are activated or deactivated when needed.

According to my information we know little about which genes the hypothalamus-produced miRNA regulate but it they seem to be important in keeping tissues young because when the Albert Einstein College of Medicine researchers injected miRNA into the brains of old mice or mice that had their hypothalamus stem cells destroyed, many aging-related symptoms were halted or even reversed.  The results were the same if the researchers injected stem cells into the mice's hypothalamus region.

We can only speculate that if we can keep the stem cell population of our hypothalamus at a high level, many aging-related issues would be averted.  So far, I don't think we know why these cells die off over time, because stem cells typically just keep reproducing themselves infinitely and do not age like differentiated tissue cells.

A researcher in longevity that I know, Dr. Aubrey de Grey, from the SENS Research Foundation, when asked about the potential of this particular discovery, told me that for now, the impact of it all isn't that significant, but I have a sneaky suspicion that many of the age-related issues are related to one another through these hypothalamus adult stem cells.

Time and more research will tell...

 

New Applications of Gene Editing to Cure Cancer

I've mentioned gene editing techniques quite a bit in the past 2 years, in particular referring to the development of the hugely successful CRISPR-Cas9 technique, but in the last few months, we've gone farther still.

Scientists have developed more techniques that are classified as gene editing, but not necessarily involving CRISPR itself.  In fact, I believe the CRISPR craze has re-energized laboratories and of course funders to take the plunge into the general area and develop even old techniques into viable treatments for truly serious diseases, including Cancer.

There has also been significant discussion around regulation of new techniques since we are talking about very new areas of genetic engineering that we have little experience with.  So DARPA, for one, has invested $65 million dollars into a program that should help prevent serious long term issues for people treated via gene editing techniques in the future.

The program has three main technical objectives: to develop processes that allow greater control of genome editing in living systems, to develop countermeasures that protect genome integrity in populations, and to investigate a way to remove engineered genes from living systems.

This is smart because companies in capitalistic systems can take advantage of the quick fix without caring about long term effects on people and on societies.  I never prescribe stopping or blocking research, but since science is moving at a breakneck speed, our regulatory bodies do need to be faster and even more proactive.

I talk more about the sociological impact of these technologies and ideas on regulation in the video below:

What's truly amazing about these techniques is that we're entering the realm of personalized treatments for the most part.  What is particular about cancer is that it is caused by mutated DNA.  Since the mutation can be located in different parts of the cell to cause the uncontrolled division of cells that is the disease, it means that each cancer is in fact somewhat different and unique to the individual and cancer type (both).

Thankfully, gene editing techniques means giving us the ability to target very specific gene sequences to dole out treatment that would work only for a certain individual.

For example, a lab in Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute got very successful cure/remission results with patients by analyzing the patient's individual cancer neoantigens.  These are specific proteins on the surface of cancer cells that aren't present in healthy cells.  The lab reproduced the neoantigens outside of the patient, and then let the patient's immune system (T-Cells) attack the proteins once injected back into the patient along with immune system activators.  That way, the T-Cells would attack their cancer-specific neoantigens in the blood, but also attacking the cancer cells too since they are full of the mutated proteins.

Ok, this is not gene editing, but it was inspired by the idea of personalized treatment.  

Another lab had a similar idea, but instead of injecting the body with the neoantigens, they chose to extract some of the patient's T-Cells and edit their genetic code to better attack the patient's specific cancer type, and then re-inject the cells back.  This treatment saw an FDA panel approve of this treatment recently (though not FDA approved yet).  Credits for the treatment goes to the University of Pennsylvania and Novartis Corp.   

Both cancer treatments mentioned above had over 50% test patient recovery rate or better and did not cause any ill effect on the host bodies and no harmful chemicals were needed in the process either.

Gene therapy techniques like this one and others are still being tested on animals, ready for human trials for cancer and also for other terrible diseases like DMD (Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy).  We're quickly getting to very nice roads to broad treatments and cures of very nasty health problems, which is very encouraging!

And because labs everywhere have had a great time finding good ways to use gene therapy and associated techniques, it has also encouraged labs to go as far as using gene therapy to cure genetic diseases found at the embryonic level.  Yes, that means using gene editing techniques on embryos, potentially still in the womb, thus allowing the newborn baby to grow into an adult and have a healthy life without a potentially deadly genetic disease running around inside his DNA.

Pretty cool stuff and indeed, something that must be studied further and regulations in place to avoid the possible scenario of causing long term harm in trade for a short term good.

How Does DNA Compare With Conventional Data Storage Now

Well, just like everything else, we've been quite active at improving DNA storing technologies in the past few years.  It's in fact quite amazing how far we've gone and exactly when industry experts figure we'll be able to use the technology commercially.

In 2012, 1 gram of DNA could store about 700 terabytes of data.  Today, in 2017, 1 gram of DNA successfully stored 215,000 terabytes of data.  That's roughly 100,000 2TB hard drives.

That's a lot of information that takes up lots of space and materials.

DNA storage today is so compact that we could fit the entirety of humanity's recorded knowledge inside a standard garage, with room to spare.  Not only that but DNA stored in one's garage would stay stable and accessible for potentially hundreds of thousands of years, unless a fire occurs.

That's because DNA molecules can physically hug each other without a problem, they are chemically hyper stable, aren't affected by EMP (electromagnetic pulses) and magnets of any kind.  So in the case of a cosmic EMP or an artificial one, DNA storage keeps our data safe.

I go through this a bit more along with why this sort of storage medium is important for us and could serve us in the future better than traditional data storage mediums in the following video:

But before I get into further details, I need to explain what is DNA and how information can be stored inside it.

DNA is a molecule composed of 4 different molecules:  Adenine (A), Thymine (T), Guanine (G) and Cytosine (C).  These molecules are set in the shape of a spiral staircase in sets of either A-T or C-G.

Since A always goes with T and C always with G, DNA is a binary code when used to store bytes.  For example, A-T bonds are "0" and C-G bonds and "1".  In biology however, DNA encodes for proteins in a different way (NOT zeros and ones), but we're not doing biology here.

So basically, DNA is simply replacing our "0" and "1. schema of data storage at this point.

Companies and researchers have been looking into storing data on DNA for almost 70 years with only strong successes appearing 5 years ago, with, for example, the Scripps Institute being one of the first to properly encode and decode data using DNA sequencing using what could be called a biological computer in 2012.

But now, things are progressing quickly and larger firms desire to be the first to use DNA storage properly, cheaply and reliably.  Notably, Microsoft intends to start storing its data by 2020, 3 years from now.  This is an interesting concept to be sure, especially since storing data using DNA is still very expensive at approximately $800,000 USD for 200 megabytes of data.

Another current issue, is that current speed of encoding data in this way is at about 400 bytes per second.  In order to make the process commercially viable and interesting, the cost has to go down by a factor of at least 1,000 and the speed has to increase by a factor of 250,000 (up to about 100 megabytes per second or more).

So there seems to be confidence from Microsoft to achieve these goals pretty quickly.  Honestly, I give them and other entrants into this field a 50-50 chance to achieve these goals by 2020.  But if it's not in 3 years, it may be 5.

Just like anything else, we can't anticipate how other technologies will help this particular project along.

What is definite is that DNA is certainly a superior storage medium as far as efficiency of space, weight and environmental impact (all organic, non-polluting materials).  The cost and speed of processing is something engineers and the economy are quite used to managing quite well as a technology becomes more interesting, more efforts are put into it and if it becomes popular too.

So could we expect having small smartphone sized DNA storage devices in each one of our homes that can contain all the data a household could ever need to store (thousands of movies, home videos, all the music you may need, all the household's pictures, data and even security video footage you'd ever want)?  Sure it certainly looks like it'll be possible.

Will we be able to use house refuse to create the DNA elements needed (A, T, C, G are molecules that need to either be manufactured or purchased) to store more information?  That's also possible since Adenine, Thymine, Guanine and Cytosine are organic molecules made up of the same type of materials as what is inside your veggies and meats.  Heck, those very molecules are inside since they are composed of cells with DNA in them themselves.  :)

As always, it'll be an interesting ride to see how opportunists and inventors will help make this particular type of technology viable, or help move us towards something even better.

Both cases are interesting and should be encouraged.

So let's make it all happen!

The Road to Creating the First Human Being

Sounds like science fiction right?

Yes.  However, many who have followed my blog noticed that many of the things I write about sounds like science fiction, yet I write about current valid research in laboratories, in trial or in application.  So science fiction?  Not so much.

If the idea of creating human beings scare you, don't worry.  We're quite a ways away from that particular step.  There are many steps between what we can do now and then.... but we're getting there faster than people think.

I discuss this further in this video:

Synthetic organs
I've published several blogs and videos on the topic of creating full organs that can be used for transplants.  It would be terrific if people in need of organ transplants could get one within only a couple weeks of a problem arising instead of waiting a long time for the appropriate donor to be found.

There is also the question of the patient's immune system attacking the donated organ once implanted, causing all sorts of issues over time and most importantly forcing the patient to take immunosuppressants in an attempt to prevent their own body rejecting said organ.  Remember, immunosuppressants also makes a body weaker against ANY foreign body and disease, so the patient has the potential to be sick way more often and needs strong medicine to counter disease, unlike healthy individuals who can just ride a disease out.

New research has come to my attention where labs were able to grow full organs from a certain species into another, then transplanting the organ into the host with the missing organ.  At the University of Tokyo, researchers conducted very encouraging experiments that show that soon we may be able to grow healthy human organs in other species like pigs and once the human organ has grown enough, it can be extracted and transplanted into the host that donated the cells that started the growth process in the pig in the first place.

Doing this allows for the resulting organ to be made up of a large amount of the patient's own cells, allowing the immune system to accept the organ as its own.

And I guess, we get to eat the pig (why not?).

Other teams are working on ways to grow these organs from patient stem cells on some form of structure that has a vascular system.  We have been able to grow very simple or small organs on organic structures and molds before (see some of my previous blogs) because they could be grown without the need of blood vessels carrying oxygen deep into tissues.

So these teams have been using plants as scaffolds with existing vascular systems to successfully grown complex tissues like heart tissue.  With the developed techniques using plant vascular systems, there is a good possibility we'll be able to soon grow full organs that way as well, without the use of animals (another way to use existing vascular systems to bring oxygen to a growing organ).

Pretty exciting stuff with multiple approaches being researched and developed.

I cannot predict when we'll be able to rely on these or other techniques to replace malfunctioning or lost organs, but it's looking good!


The next step 
The creation of whole organs is interesting for treatment purposes, that's for sure but what about creating a whole human body?

That process has usually been the domain of Mother Nature starting off with a human embryo right?

Well, human embryos can be harvested from human eggs and sperm combined, just like what we do for in vitro fertilization.  However, that requires donors and a whole process involving approvals and meetings etc...

Interestingly enough, a team of scientists at the University of Cambridge has found a way, not too dissimilar to what was described above for creating full organs using an organic scaffold of some kind, to create brand new embryos instead that have the potential to grow to adulthood afterwards once we find a good way to either implant these new embryos into surrogates or into artificial wombs (which are being created by other teams at this time).  The team doesn't know yet if the embryo created this way could develop into a fully functional human being, a clone of the original donor of stem cells used to grow the embryo however.  They just can't let these experimental embryos grow beyond the 14 day mark for legal reasons.

Still, this technique could be used to create novel human beings, genetically engineered beyond the need for one or 2 biological parents in the future.

Synthetic humans?
Once all is said and done, with our enhanced understanding of all these biological processes and with techniques allowing us to grow genetically engineered adult bodies (animal or human), we are a getting pretty close to the day when we can actually create new full sized human beings.

Why would we do this?  The main argument would be that it is a great way to fully understand our own genetic code.  Makes sense doesn't it?  The best way to make a new automobile engine with a new design is to take apart existing engines and see how everything fits and work together.

Well, as far as creating synthetic humans, the process of understanding it all comes through our creation of organs, then embryos but also in being able to read our own DNA as well.

There are teams such as those found at Human Longevity, Inc, and the Human Genome Institute that are looking at ways to truly understand human DNA in order to resolve a wide variety of problems including longevity, genetic diseases and yes, eventually, creating a completely synthetic human being.  

And why not?  Making a synthetic human would teach us all the more about ourselves.   If you think about it, throughout history we've been doing just that through childbearing, then in vitro fertilization and  more recently cloning.

Is it going to be useful?  That remains to be seen but what is certain, once we achieve this goal, we'll be many steps closer to understanding our own bodies and making our lives all the better for it.