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Jeriaska of Future Current was kind enough to produce a transcript of a February 2008 presentation by Methuselah Foundation chair Aubrey de Grey. The presentation covers some of the same territory as the most recent Foundation progress report, but goes into much more depth on the new research initiatives to be funded by the Foundation's generous donors:
So, it has been a lot of work. But the upshot is that we will be able to initiate at least three, and perhaps even more, projects this year, over and above the two big projects that we have been doing over the past couple of years - namely, the identification of bacterial genes that can break down things that we can't, and the relocation of mitochondrial DNA into the nucleus. Both of those projects are obviously continuing and will be growing, in terms of manpower, during this year.
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Another area of SENS that is completely separate from cancer is the elimination of cells that won't die. Of course cancer is a problem of having too many cells because the cells are dividing like crazy. They are also dying like crazy, but they are dividing even more crazily. That's what cancer is. There are other problems that are caused by cells that are actually not dividing, but they are not dying either, and they are accumulating slowly as a result. They get in the way and cause various problems just by being there.
Probably the most serious example of this is the immune system.
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The upshot is that there is a good chance that we are going to be able to fund a project starting this year that will get a good deal further towards the goal in mice of eliminating these clonal expansions of what are called anergic - essentially broken - CD8 cells. The hope certainly is that this will play a large role in rejuvenating the immune system. There is one other thing that we want to do that is also required for rejuvenating the immune system, and that is to restore the size of a very important organ in the immune system called the thymus, which is - for whatever reason - something that shrinks throughout life and gets, even by the sort of age I am, down to 10 or 15% the size that it was in early life. It is believed that this has also a rather large role to play in the increasing dysfunction of the immune system. We want to regrow the thymus as well.
There's much more along those lines, touching on WILT (Whole-body Interdiction of Lengthening of Telomeres), cancer, stem cell therapies to replace worn tissue, and removal of amyloid, to name a few items.
Have you ever dreamed of climbing Mt. Everest - on your 125th birthday?
The Methuselah Foundation announces Aging 2008 at UCLA: On Friday June 27th, leading scientists and thinkers in stem cell research and regenerative medicine will gather in Los Angeles at UCLA for Aging 2008 to explain how their work can combat human aging, and the sociological implications of developing rejuvenation therapies.
Aging 2008 is free, with advance registration required at http://www.mfoundation.org/Aging2008/
Dr. Aubrey de Grey, chairman and chief science officer of the Methuselah Foundation, said "Our organization has raised over $10 million to crack open the logjams in longevity science. With the two-armed strategy of direct investments into key research projects, and a competitive prize to spur on scientists racing to break rejuvenation and longevity records in lab mice, the Foundation is actively accelerating the drive toward a future free of age-related degeneration." The Methuselah Foundation has been covered by 60 Minutes, Popular Science, The Wall Street Journal, and other top-flight media outlets.
The State of California is a frontrunner in regenerative medicine and stem cell research. On November 2, 2004, more than seven million Californians voted to pass Proposition 71, establishing the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and allocating $3 billion over ten years to fund stem cell research. Proposition 71 was a rare instance of voters directly authorizing funding for scientific research.
The speakers at Aging 2008 will argue that the near-term consequences of intense research into regenerative medicine could be the development of therapies that extend healthy human life by decades, even if the therapies are applied in middle age. Peter Thiel, president of Clarium Capital, initial investor in Facebook, and lead sponsor of Aging 2008, said, "The time has come to challenge the inevitability of aging. This forum will provide an excellent opportunity to look at the scientific barriers that must be overcome to substantially extend healthy human life, as well as the ethical implications of doing so."
Aging 2008 also serves as the free opening session for the technically focused Understanding Aging Conference, which will run at UCLA on June 28th and 29th.
What: Aging: The Disease, The Cure, The Implications, hosted by Methuselah Foundation
When: Friday, June 27, 2008, Drinks 4pm, Presentations 5pm, Dinner 8pm
Where: Royce Hall, 405 Hilgard Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024
Who:
- Dr. Bruce Ames, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UC Berkeley
- G. Steven Burrill, Chairman of Pharmasset and Chairman of Campaign for Medical Research
- Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Chairman and CSO of Methuselah Foundation and author of Ending Aging
- Dr. William Haseltine, Chairman of Haseltine Global Health
- Daniel Perry, Executive Director of Alliance for Aging Research
- Bernard Siegel, Executive Director of Genetics Policy Institute
- Dr. Gregory Stock, Director of Program on Medicine, Technology & Society at UCLA School of Medicine
- Dr. Michael West, CEO of BioTime and Adjunct Professor of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley
About the Methuselah Foundation
The Methuselah Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to extending the healthy human lifespan. Founded in 2002 by entrepreneur David Gobel and gerontologist Dr. Aubrey de Grey, the Methuselah Foundation funds two major projects: the Mprize, a multimillion dollar research prize, and SENS, a detailed engineering plan to repair aging-related damage. Learn more at http://www.mfoundation.org
In the history of any successful organization there are actions taken at opportune times that bring about catalytic change - not merely to the dynamics of the organization itself, but ultimately to its wider impact in the world. The Methuselah Foundation is now poised at the brink of considerable opportunity. Our collective actions will determine the nature of how we move forward from here.
Aging 2008, at UCLA in Los Angeles, has the potential to be a watershed event for the Foundation. Here's the website with details:
http://mfoundation.org/aging2008
We're looking for as many volunteers as possible to help with Aging 2008. Please contact the Foundation if you can volunteer
- online;
- or in the Los Angeles area;
- or at a college/university in Southern California
...along with your availability, interests, and any special skills or knowledge you can offer. Here's the schedule:
June 27 - Aging: The Disease, The Cure, The Implications (free public symposium)
June 28-29 - Understanding Aging: Biomedical and Bioengineering Approaches (scientific conference)
We need your help to prepare for and publicize these events - especially the June 27th symposium, when we have to fill Royce Hall with 1,800 people. Here's how you can immediately help to publicize this event:
1) Blog about Aging 2008; if you do, let us know and we'll add you to the Aging 2008 Blogroll
2) Put up a banner or button, and send banners/buttons to others:
http://mfoundation.org/aging2008/promote/
3) Send the May 18th press release to your network and media contacts:
http://mfoundation.org/aging2008/promote/Aging2008PressRelease.pdf
4) Promote through social networks, Twitter, and mailing lists
5) Put up/hand out flyers and postcards at colleges, bookstores, etc. in L.A. and surrounding regions:
http://mfoundation.org/aging2008/promote/#flyers
6) Help us get pre-event coverage: online, print, radio, and TV
7) Share Aubrey's videos (TEDTalk, Colbert Report, etc.) by putting them on your blog or sending them to friends:
http://mfoundation.org/aging2008/promote/#video
There's something for everyone - invite any friends that can help volunteer too! We need to tell the world that the aging process is an approachable challenge with the technologies we have at hand. Regenerative medicine is still in its infancy, and we can work to make the defeat of aging a key goal for this emerging field.
Now is the time for us to step up to a higher level of public engagement!
We're happy to announce two steadfast new additions to the Methuselah Foundation roster: Kevin Dewalt is joining the executive advisory board, and Roger Holzberg comes on board as our Chief Marketing Officer.
Methuselah Foundation Welcomes Kevin M. Dewalt to Executive Advisory Board
The Methuselah Foundation is pleased to announce that Kevin M. Dewalt, currently a Director at In-Q-Tel, has joined the Executive Advisory Board of the Methuselah Foundation. As a member of the Board, Mr. Dewalt will help the Foundation plan and execute strategic operating initiatives to grow from a start-up organization to a world-class non-profit.
In-Q-Tel is an independent strategic investment firm that identifies innovative technology solutions to support the mission of the broader U.S. Intelligence Community. Mr. Dewalt has over 15 years experience driving technology innovation in start-ups, large companies, and the federal government. His past experience includes work for the US Coast Guard, The Motley Fool, and FINRA (NASD).
Mr. Dewalt received a Commission and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the US Coast Guard Academy where he was the #1 graduate in his class. He received a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
About his joining the Foundation, Mr. Dewalt remarked, "I'm honored to be working with Dr. Aubrey de Grey and the rest of the Foundation to help advance the long-term humanitarian mission of extending healthy human lives worldwide by curing the diseases that cause debility and suffering as we age."
Methuselah Foundation Welcomes Roger Holzberg as Chief Marketing Officer/Creative Director
The Methuselah Foundation is pleased to announce that Roger Holzberg, formerly Award winning Vice President/Creative Director at the Walt Disney Company (first at Disney Interactive, then at Imagineering), has joined the Methuselah Foundation as Chief Marketing Officer. Mr. Holzberg is taking the lead in honing the Methuselah Foundation's marketing strategy as it pursues its mission of extending healthy human life.
While at Disney, Roger had the opportunity to lead the creative development for a broad portfolio of projects ranging from PlayStation games to theme park icons; from mass audience interactive experiences and rides to commerce applications that promote and sell the worldwide resorts and cruise line; to the MMOG Virtual Magic Kingdom. He is listed as "inventor" for four Disney patents.
Before Disney, Roger helped build Knowledge Adventure, creator of the Jumpstart brand, and was a creative leader in interactive projects like Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair and Starbrite Worlds Online. In "classic media" he has written and directed feature films and television, but is particularly proud of researching/writing "The Living Sea" (Academy Award nomination for best documentary -- IMAX).
"Having served on the Methuselah Foundation advisory board since 2003, I am thrilled to take the lead in building public awareness for this extraordinary science initiative," Holzberg said.
As more talented people and generous philanthropists join our cause, we forge our way onwards and upwards, towards the defeat of age-related frailty, disease and death through medical research and new biotechnology.
The volunteer work to prepare for next month's Understanding Aging conference at UCLA, Los Angeles - organized by the Methuselah Foundation - is proceeding apace. The first meeting for the Los Angeles volunteer team is this Sunday May 18th, at UCLA's Royce Hall. Volunteer David Shatto tells us:
The inaugural Los Angeles team meeting for Aging 2008 will take place on the front steps of Royce Hall, this Sunday May 18, starting at 2pm. It will last at least an hour.
Instructions for finding Royce Hall can be found at the conference website.
Please invite any friends that can help volunteer with our Los Angeles operations!
New faces are welcome, and if you'd like to help spread the word about longevity science, then drop by.
I'm pleased to note that pledged funds for Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) research, aimed at repairing and reversing the damage of aging, have passed the $7 million mark. Congratulations are due to all the Methuselah Foundation volunteers and generous donors who have made our ongoing SENS research programs a reality. Thank you all!
You can find out more about the SENS research funded and organized by the Methuselah Foundation at our website, and in the most recent progress report issued by the Foundation:
The Foundation currently sponsors research in two of the seven strands of the SENS program: preventing the harm caused by mitochondrial mutations (MitoSENS) and degrading damaging, long-lived cellular debris (LysoSENS).
...
A selection of [further] projects within the SENS plan are ready to be launched as Foundation-sponsored research programs. [As] for MitoSENS and LysoSENS, these projects will start small (likely with only a single researcher), with the aim of delivering high leverage in terms of the credibility of the approach.
We look forward to continued expansion and progress in the year ahead.
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