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Thread: This SEEMS like a big fricking deal

  1. #1

    Default This SEEMS like a big fricking deal

    Cue the wet blankets, but this:


    Scientists Reverse the Aging Clock: Restore Age-Related Vision Loss Through Epigenetic Reprogramming


    • Proof-of-concept study represents first successful attempt to reverse the aging clock in animals through epigenetic reprogramming.
    • Scientists turned on embryonic genes to reprogram cells of mouse retinas.
    • Approach reversed glaucoma-induced eye damage in animals.
    • Approach also restored age-related vision loss in elderly mice.
    • Work spells promise for using same approach in other tissues, organs beyond the eyes.
    • Success sets stage for treatment of various age-related diseases in humans


    ....
    “Our study demonstrates that it’s possible to safely reverse the age of complex tissues such as the retina and restore its youthful biological function,” said senior author David Sinclair, professor of genetics in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School, co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at HMS and an expert on aging.
    ...
    https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-...reprogramming/

    The article specifically states they've overcome the tumor problem. I would love to toss out my reading/ working glasses!!! But this seems to be a big step toward restoring youth in all sorts of tissues.
    The Rules
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  2. #2
    Yeah, just... No.
    "When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: Why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first." - Werner Heisenberg (maybe)

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by wiggin View Post
    Yeah, just... No.
    Okay Sheldon, explain yourself.
    The Rules
    Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
    Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
    Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by EyeKhan View Post
    Okay Sheldon, explain yourself.
    They transduced mouse eyes with Yamanaka factors. Reasons it's not super exciting:

    1. We can cure cancer in mice, we can repair their spinal cords, we can make mice live for super long periods through e.g. calorie restriction and parabiosis and other effects. Translation to humans is very hard.
    2. There is no way in hell you can just transduce/transfect people with Yamanaka factors, it's a very blunt tool with lots of side effects and safety issues. Even with the switch they used it's very risky.
    3. The eye is a special case, amenable to gene therapies and relatively isolated (and not critical to life). It's been one of the first real tissues targeted for gene therapy, so this is low hanging fruit (and indeed this technology has been licensed for eye applications and I imagine there's a modest chance it could pan out). Try doing this to your heart or something else that actually kills people.

    It is likely that control over epigenetics will be one part of therapies to treat aging related diseases in the future. However, don't expect to see substantial movement in this area for a long time; we don't have the tools to do it well, nor do we fully understand what's going on.

    I think aging research is one of the most hope- (and hype-) inducing in science. I understand why, but aging is really complicated, with dozens of intersecting causes. Some of the most complicated medicine today is performed by gerontologists because so many things are going wrong at once. There is not going to be a silver bullet, but lots of small incremental improvements.

    I recall a conversation I had about 15 years ago with a moderately famous singularitarian/extropian/transhumanist type. He was interested in my academic background and started quizzing me about all sorts of research he had heard about that was supposed to be the Next Big Thing and make all of us live for 200 years. I regretfully had to tell him that we weren't about to reverse aging by tweaking our mitochondria any time soon. People in this space are very credulous and don't understand the context of new findings and the ways in which they can or cannot be applied to therapies.
    "When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: Why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first." - Werner Heisenberg (maybe)

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by wiggin View Post
    They transduced mouse eyes with Yamanaka factors. Reasons it's not super exciting:

    1. We can cure cancer in mice, we can repair their spinal cords, we can make mice live for super long periods through e.g. calorie restriction and parabiosis and other effects. Translation to humans is very hard.
    2. There is no way in hell you can just transduce/transfect people with Yamanaka factors, it's a very blunt tool with lots of side effects and safety issues. Even with the switch they used it's very risky.
    3. The eye is a special case, amenable to gene therapies and relatively isolated (and not critical to life). It's been one of the first real tissues targeted for gene therapy, so this is low hanging fruit (and indeed this technology has been licensed for eye applications and I imagine there's a modest chance it could pan out). Try doing this to your heart or something else that actually kills people.

    It is likely that control over epigenetics will be one part of therapies to treat aging related diseases in the future. However, don't expect to see substantial movement in this area for a long time; we don't have the tools to do it well, nor do we fully understand what's going on.

    I think aging research is one of the most hope- (and hype-) inducing in science. I understand why, but aging is really complicated, with dozens of intersecting causes. Some of the most complicated medicine today is performed by gerontologists because so many things are going wrong at once. There is not going to be a silver bullet, but lots of small incremental improvements.

    I recall a conversation I had about 15 years ago with a moderately famous singularitarian/extropian/transhumanist type. He was interested in my academic background and started quizzing me about all sorts of research he had heard about that was supposed to be the Next Big Thing and make all of us live for 200 years. I regretfully had to tell him that we weren't about to reverse aging by tweaking our mitochondria any time soon. People in this space are very credulous and don't understand the context of new findings and the ways in which they can or cannot be applied to therapies.
    Gracias.

    For me, as one who had perfect vision until my late 40s and am now wearing glasses for everything, I'd love a treatment that returned glasses-free sight.
    The Rules
    Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
    Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
    Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)

  6. #6
    Yeah I doubt this therapy will help you there.
    "When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: Why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first." - Werner Heisenberg (maybe)

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by EyeKhan View Post
    Gracias.

    For me, as one who had perfect vision until my late 40s and am now wearing glasses for everything, I'd love a treatment that returned glasses-free sight.
    Lasik surgery?
    Tomorrow is like an empty canvas that extends endlessly, what should I sketch on it?

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by EyeKhan View Post
    Gracias.

    For me, as one who had perfect vision until my late 40s and am now wearing glasses for everything, I'd love a treatment that returned glasses-free sight.
    As someone who had perfect vision until my late 4s, I can really empathize.
    Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Kazuha Vinland View Post
    Lasik surgery?
    I'm not sure that can correct age-related far-sightedness. I know in the past, it could not. Maybe it does now. Worth checking, now that I think about it.
    The Rules
    Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
    Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
    Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by LittleFuzzy View Post
    As someone who had perfect vision until my late 4s, I can really empathize.
    My first thought was "Fuzzy's younger than that, right?" Now I understand you to mean you've been stuck with glasses for the longest. I have to wonder if its easier to deal with if you've had to from your earliest memories. Transitioning from the life-long-luxury of glasses-free vision to a state of can't-see-shit was tough at age 47 or so... Yeah, I know, cry me a river.
    The Rules
    Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
    Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
    Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by EyeKhan View Post
    My first thought was "Fuzzy's younger than that, right?" Now I understand you to mean you've been stuck with glasses for the longest. I have to wonder if its easier to deal with if you've had to from your earliest memories. Transitioning from the life-long-luxury of glasses-free vision to a state of can't-see-shit was tough at age 47 or so... Yeah, I know, cry me a river.
    Having first world cosmetic/convenience & age-related problems? Join the crowd Old Man Don't look to "epigenetic reprogramming" just because needing corrective glasses or contacts is a pain in the ass as we grow older. Entropy is a natural part of the human life cycle -- we're not designed to live 200 years -- let alone with perfect vision. Even with Lasik surgery you'd still need "readers" for presbyopia.

    My suggestion is to embrace your 'normal' aging, just like wrinkles and grey hair. Choose glasses that also mask under-eye circles or any other facial flaws, and get corrective sunglasses, too. Be grateful that you can afford to buy these things and still look "cool". (Eyewear is actually a fashion industry, and it's been incorporated into car design too, like those flip down compartments.)

    Keep a magnifying glass in the kitchen (to read all the tiny print on food labels). And count yourself lucky that you haven't been practically blind since childhood, like my sister (or Fuzzy) who needed glasses when they were toddlers, and now need prisms just to see the floor when they get out of bed.

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