Anti-aging

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.

Aging: can we grow new brain cells as adults?

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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 …

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Can stem cells really fight aging & if so, how?

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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 …

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Stem cells for the flu? Pondering PR email, frailty data from Longeveron

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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 …

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Young blood as anti-aging fountain of youth: hype or hope?

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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 …

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Review of Nature paper: stem cell exosomes on the brain and aging

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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 …

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Parabiosis and young blood anti-aging in mice

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    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 …

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Has anti-aging finally come of age with Google’s Calico?

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 …

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Caloric restriction: dieting monkeys teach human scientists?

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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 …

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Regenerative Medicine outlook: Five simple ways to protect your stem cells and your health

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Regenerative medicine is very exciting. But what’s even better than regenerative medicine? Preventative medicine. If one can prevent a problem for occurring in the first place, it is far better than trying to treat it after the fact. Of course in many cases we do not know the causes of diseases so it is difficult …

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