In a strange, but fascinating tale recounted by Antonio Regalado in an article over at MIT Tech Review, we hear the first claim of a do-it-yourself (DIY) gene therapy. The owner of a small biotech called BioViva, Liz Parrish, reportedly traveled from her home in Seattle to get an unapproved, experimental gene therapy in another …
Claim of Liz Parrish DIY gene therapy linked to unlicensed stem cell clinic Read More »
I’ve written before about Liz Parrish and her life-extension firm BioViva. Now they appear to have connections with another entity called Integrated Health Systems or IHS, according to a new Wired article. Some of what is going on with IHS and maybe BioViva in Mexico seems extremely risky to me. BioViva, Parrish, and Integrated Health Systems The …
Weekly reads: BioViva & life-extension clinic, RMATs, universal cells Read More »
Are long telomeres better than short ones? What about older folks lengthening their telomeres somewhat or stabilizing the length? Could this counter aging? As with many things, the story is far more complicated than we might hope. For background, telomeres are special structures protecting the ends of chromosomes. I remember as a young student that …
Long telomeres link to disease suggests caution on anti-aging push Read More »
Near-billionaire Bryan Johnson apparently does not like getting old and he’s trying to do something transformative about it. He and his team are experimenting in a big way. As a 55-year-old myself, I can’t blame him for wanting to fight aging in general. However, his anti-aging project includes some extreme stuff. Will some in the …
Skepticism on the Bryan Johnson anti-aging extravaganza Read More »
Let’s start off today’s recommended reads with the topic of life extension. No controversy there, right? This comes to mind because of a new preprint from BioViva, Liz Parrish, and George Church. I’m hoping to cover this on our Stem Cell Channel on YouTube. Gene therapy and life extension research The preprint is entitled, “New …
Weekly reads: life extension & BioViva, clinics & anti-vax, axolotls, systemic CRISPR Read More »
The myostatin gene has been getting quite a bit of attention lately. The buzz surrounds the idea of inhibiting myostatin either through gene therapy or via germline human genetic modification. In this way, some hope to create people with more muscle. Myostatin, which also goes by the acronym MSTN, has an inhibitory function on muscle. …
Monkeying around with myostatin: on the road to healthier humans or human hulks? Read More »