Meet the LysoSENS Research Team
The LysoSENS page here at the Methuselah Foundation has been updated with information on the researchers presently involved - scroll down on that page to see more. These folk are presently working away in search of enzymes capable of safely breaking down the harmful intracellular and extracellular aggregates that are one root cause of age-related degeneration.
We are working in the lab of Bruce Rittmann, a well-known environmental engineer, as he has the expertise to find microbes that degrade weird stuff. We hope that we can isolate enzymes from these microbes and deliver them in a manner similar to current FDA-approved treatments for heritable lysosome storage diseases, where the missing enzyme is tagged with certain sugars for targeting and then injected into the bloodstrem. You can learn more about the LysoSENS strategy from its originator and Methuselah Foundation chairperson Aubrey de Grey here (quick and easy) or here (detailed and technical)....
Kent Kemmish is an undergraduate student at the University of Arizona in Tucson. During his free time he often comes over to Tempe to help with the LysoSENS. Kent's main contribution was metabolic profiling of our 7-ketocholesterol-degrading isolates.
Jacques Mathieu is a graduate student at Rice University, Texas. Jacques is collaborating with John on the characterization of our 7-ketocholesterol degraders. His main focus is genetics.
Justin Rebo is a graduate student at St. George University, Grenada. He has arranged to do much of the practical work for his degree at Biodesign to help with the LysoSENS. Justin helped during summer with genetic and biochemical characterization of our 7-ketocholesterol degraders.John Schloendorn is a graduate student at Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University. John is collaborating with Jacques on the characterization of our 7-ketocholesterol degraders. His main focus is biochemistry.
We wish them the best of luck in their contributions to this important field; they will be joined by many others as the Methuselah Foundation grows from strength to strength.