There is a vast amount of anti-aging hype out there. Some of this involves stem cell-related approaches. In posts in this category Professor Paul Knoepfler fact-checks the hype, focusing on data.
Can we humans grow healthy new brain cells as adults and during later aging? The answer to this question is a big deal because it could have major impact on aging. Those hoped-for new brain cells could keep our brains functionally younger. Who doesn’t want to slow down the aging of their brain, right? Slowing […]
Aging: can we grow new brain cells as adults? Read More »
If you want to fight aging, should you turn to stem cells? Does the idea of stem cells to battle getting old even make any sense? The answer is, “it depends.” It’s a really interesting area conceptually and technically for stem cells. A theory. There is evidence that things that happen to our endogenous stem
Can stem cells really fight aging & if so, how? Read More »
Stem cells for flu? For me, that idea is new. Some months back there was buzz about the stem cell biotech Longeveron related to its report on early trial data on testing infusions of mesenchymal stem cells for frailty in the aged. Frailty that pops up in some aging folks can manifest in a variety
Stem cells for the flu? Pondering PR email, frailty data from Longeveron Read More »
There’s an idea floating around out there called “young blood” to use donations from young folks to infuse older people to reverse aging. I’m skeptical. Imagine an old man and a teenager sitting side by side, with blood flowing from the kid to the oldster in a stab at anti-aging. Sort of like a one-way
Young blood as anti-aging fountain of youth: hype or hope? Read More »
Is there a stem cell connection between the brain and aging? Could a type of brain stem cell or the exosomes it secretes control whole body aging? A recent big Nature article from the lab of Dongcheng Cai argues an emphatic “Yes” to these questions, at least in mice. In the Zhang, et al paper, entitled
Review of Nature paper: stem cell exosomes on the brain and aging Read More »
How does one go about cheating death? Who doesn’t want to cheat death? I know I certainly do. Can stem cells help many people in the immediate future to escape death (pictured here in personified form as Death t from Wikipedia)? Recent headlines on new stem cell-related clinical developments would make you think so and
The cheating death excitation Read More »
Parabiosis and aging When it comes to anti-aging science, creepy meets cool with “young blood” in new blood mixing studies just published. The researchers report that blood from young animals literally makes older animals younger. That striking claim is made by both of two independent teams. They published high-profile papers that just came
Parabiosis and young blood anti-aging in mice Read More »
Can Google’s new anti-aging company, Calico, have you Googling at age 140? Don’t sell your burial plot just yet. The idea of anti-aging has been around for a very long time and efforts to combat aging have spanned millennia largely without any success so Calico (apparently short for California Life Company, which sounds more like
Has anti-aging finally come of age with Google’s Calico? Read More »
The notion of caloric restriction (CR) as a means to prolong human life is intriguing. The basic idea of CR is that if you eat a lot less than the average person you’ll live longer. You might even live a higher quality, healthier life. But is this true? (update: see my newer post on 5
Caloric restriction: dieting monkeys teach human scientists? Read More »
I believe that stem cells may at some point allow people to live slightly longer, maybe a couple years on average. However, I think they have the potential to dramatically increase the quality of life during the time we are alive. My colleague Amy Adams over at the CIRM research blog had a great post
Portraying sci-fi about stem cells and aging as reality: quotes from Aubrey de Grey Read More »