April 28 2008

Why would anyone want to live forever?

"Forever" is a long time, and we're not suggesting that. Most people who enjoy life want more of it. Even most of those who claim they don't want to live longer than "natural" will go to the ends of the earth to cure themselves of cancer, heart disease and injuries when they get stricken. Modern drugs, surgical techniques and diagnostic tools are life extension technologies that few refuse.

Most who welcome death suffer from the ravages of aging that usually make life miserable toward the end of our lives. But we aim to avoid or reverse the negative side effects of aging. As long as your life is fulfilling, now or in the future, why would you want it to end?

Wouldn’t stopping aging simply extend my decrepit frail years?

Not at all. Our goals are keeping the young youthful and reversing the damage aging does to you if you are already affected by the ravages of aging. No one is interested in spending endless years in a nursing home. Age reversal will eventually mean transforming the elderly to a healthy youthful state. We aim to reset our or biological clocks while our chronological clocks keep ticking.

Shouldn't we spend our resources feeding the hungry, rather than keep people alive longer?

A knowledgeable productive human being is the ultimate resource. The elderly are the most knowledgeable people we have. By making them productive for extra years, many of those resources can be channeled to solving problems such as hunger. Besides, our planet can accommodate over 12 billion people before resources are taxed. This doesn't even account for future technologies such as seabed farming, mining asteroids, clean energy-saving technologies, mile high buildings (Frank Lloyd Wright designed one in 1956 that could have housed all of downtown Chicago. Imagine the views!), enhanced food production, nanotechnology and genetic engineering.

What's more, the exponential growth of information technology will affect our prosperity as well. The World Bank has reported, for example, that poverty in Asia has been cut in half over the past decade due to information technologies and that at current rates it will be cut by another 90 percent over the next decade. That phenomenon will spread around the globe.

How can you expect to solve something as complex as aging, when we can't even cure cancer?

For a couple of reasons. First, it may not be necessary to solve something as complex as aging in the near future. Fixing the damage aging causes may not be nearly as hard. That may be all we have to do to build a “bridge” between today and the day we can enjoy the benefits of technologies that control the aging process.

Second, we already have some pretty compelling clues as to what causes aging. Enough in fact, to put our version of a biological "Manhattan Project" to work right now. We even know how to extend average life spans by up to 20 years in many people using current low tech lifestyle modifications. Unraveling the aging mystery was an unrealistic project just a few years ago, but recent giant technology and computational leaps give us the tools to make it a reality. For example, some biological problems used to take years to solve, now they take about 15 seconds. These tools will only get better faster with exponential growth of knowledge and technology.

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More Thoughts on PEPCK-Cmus Mouse Longevity (April 25 2008)

http://ouroboros.wordpress.com/2008/04/25/baby-i-was-born-to-run-the-pepck-cmus-mouse/

Dry wit from Ouroboros on the very long-lived PEPCK-Cmus mice: "It's become reflexive to ask whether a long-lived mutant is living longer because it's calorie-restricted for some reason, incidental to the main phenotype conferred by the mutation, but this is not the case here: In order to preserve their enviable bods, PEPCK-Cmus mice eat 60% more than controls - so they're not extending their lifespan by dieting. If anything, they're anti-dieting: their increased metabolic efficiency means they’re harvesting more calories per gram of carb or fat than normal animals. No word yet on what happens if you do try to calorie-restrict them; I can imagine it going either way but am holding out hope for tiny explosions. The PEPCK-Cmus seem to have it all: great bodies, long lives, extended reproductive and sexual lifespans, and no need to limit their appetites. The down side? Apparently, they are complete aholes: the mutants are aggressive and hyperactive, traits heretofore unheard-of among muscular, fit humans (and, indeed, in the field of biogerontology)."

Why the Germline-Longevity Link? (April 24 2008) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423171527.htm

If you eliminate germline stem cells in flies and nematode worms, they live 20-50% longer. From ScienceDaily, an explanation of the biochemistry: "When reproduction is delayed, animals live longer. Why? Our research suggests that signals from the reproductive system can regulate aging in animals - including, possibly, humans speculated that these flies might live longer because they are insensitive to the effects of insulin. Animals such as flies, worms and mice live longer when they produce or receive less insulin. [but] when germline cells were eliminated, and flies lived longer, insulin-producing cells in the fly brain actually make more - not less - insulin. How can flies be longer-lived when they're making more of a life-shortening hormone? Even though the brains were making more insulin, the bodies were responding as if there was less insulin present. In reaction to the flies' brains boosting insulin production, the insects' gonads - their ovaries or testes - produce a protein that acts like a sponge. This protein binds to the insulin and blocks its signals throughout the body. So the flies respond as if there is low, not high, insulin circulation inside their bodies."

Growing New Heart Cells (April 23 2008) http://www.umcutrecht.nl/research/news/2008/04/stem-cells-grow-into-heart-muscle-cells.htm

Researchers continue to work on the infrastructure for practical tissue engineering, here succeeding in "growing large numbers of stem cells from adult human hearts into new heart muscle cells. A breakthrough in stem cell research. Until now, it was necessary to use embryonic stem cells to make this happen. The cells grew into fully developed heart muscle cells that contract rhythmically, respond to electrical activity, and react to adrenaline. We've got complete control of this process, and that's unique. We're able to make heart muscle cells in unprecedented quantities, and on top of it they're all the same. This is good news in terms of treatment, as well as for scientific research and testing of potentially new drugs. Stem cells from the hearts of patients with genetic heart defects can be grown into heart muscle cells in the lab. Researchers can then study the cells responsible for the condition straight away. They can also be used to test new medicines. This could mean that research into genetic heart conditions can move forward at a much faster pace. In the future, new heart muscle cells can likely be used to repair heart tissue damaged during a heart attack."

NOTE: You might consider banking some of your stem cells now for future therapies.

A Thoughtful Tribute to the Work of Aubrey de Grey (April 21 2008) http://ouroboros.wordpress.com/2008/04/20/happy-birthday-aubrey-de-grey/

From Ouroboros yesterday, and well said: "Forty-five years ago, Aubrey David Nicholas Jasper de Grey was brought into the world. Today is his birthday, and it seems appropriate to briefly reflect on Aubrey's achievements to date and what he represents to biogerontology. At times brilliant, at times exasperating, Aubrey is unquestionably the world's most energetic popularizer of the idea that there is something we can do about aging - and not just a little something, mind you, but a very big something: we can end it, once and for all. In particular, he argues, we can take an engineer's approach to reversing or repairing several types of damage that characterize aging, and thereby eliminate the process of aging itself. It is good and right that we appreciate Aubrey for his energetic efforts in pushing a radical idea - that aging might someday be vanquished - out of the fringes and into the mainstream of modern biological thinking. Despite his differences with individual scientists (and sometimes with large groups of them, waving torches) he remains biogerontology's most prominent popularizer, and therefore in some sense the field's biggest fan." If Aubrey de Grey didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent him.

April 14, 2008

Cartilage Regeneration Versus Arthritis (April 11 2008) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/babs-sco040908.php

EurekAlert! notes that researchers have "successfully identified stem cells within articular cartilage of adults, which although it cannot become any cell in the body like full stem cells, has the ability to derive into chondrocytes - the cells that make up the body's cartilage - in high enough numbers to make treatment a realistic possibility. The team have even been able to identify the cells in people over 75 years of age. Osteoarthritis [occurs] when changes in the make up of the body's cartilage causes joints to fail to work properly. At its worse it can cause the break up of cartilage, causing the ends of the bones in the joint to rub against each other. This results in severe pain and deformation of the joint. One current treatment to treat damaged cartilage due to trauma in younger patients is to harvest cartilage cells from neighboring healthy cartilage and transplant them into the damaged area. Unfortunately, only a limited number of cells can be generated. We have identified a cell which when grown in the lab can produce enough of a person's own cartilage that it could be effectively transplanted. There are limitations in trying to transplant a patient's existing cartilage cells but by culturing it from a resident stem cell we believe we can overcome this limitation."

The Value of Exercise (April 10 2008) http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/ExerciseFitness/tb/9080

Every year you can extend your natural healthy longevity is a year more for the scientific community to develop working rejuvenation medicine. Regular exercise certainly helps, but be wary of hype like "chop a dozen years off the biological age." Exercise is not proven to do any such thing, but it does make some biomarkers of fitness return to the levels of a person 12 years younger. Exercise also helps to avoid damage caused by a sedentary lifestyle through a variety of processes, varying from dropping excess visceral fat to changing the regulation of metabolism: "aerobic fitness may indirectly delay dependency by preventing other conditions that are likely to diminish functional capacity, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke, some forms of cancer, and osteoporosis. Exercise also hastens recovery from injuries and any additional muscle power may prevent falls, he said. There seems good evidence that the conservation of maximal oxygen intake increases the likelihood that the healthy elderly person will retain functional independence. 

Scaffolding For Brain Regeneration (April 10 2008) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/babs-saw040808.php

From EurekAlert!: "Inserting tiny scaffolding into the brain could dramatically reduce damage caused by strokes. Combining scaffold microparticles with neural stem cells (NSCs) could regenerate lost brain tissue. Strokes cause temporary loss of blood supply to the brain which results in areas of brain tissue dying - causing loss of bodily functions such as speech and movement. While NSC transplantation has been proven to improve functional outcomes in rats with stroke damage little reduction in lesion volume has been observed. Working with rats [researchers] are developing cell-scaffold combinations that could be injected into the brain to provide a framework inside the cavities caused by stroke so that the cells are held there until they can work their way to connect with surrounding healthy tissue. The ultimate aim is to establish if this approach can provide a more efficient and effective repair process in stroke."

Replacing Damaged Retinas with Silicon (April 09 2008) http://www.tfot.info/news/1152/new-bionic-eye-could-restore-sight.html

Progress continues in the components of prosthetic sight, with replacements for age-damaged retinas being the most advanced at this time. The latest versions are a few years from human trials, and the result is far from a full restoration of vision, but it's a great improvement over blindness. The technology will only get better with time: "The implant is based on a small chip that is surgically implanted behind the retina, at the back of the eyeball. An ultra-thin wire strengthens the damaged optic nerve; its purpose is to transmit light and images to the brain's vision system, where it is normally processed. Other than the implanted chip and wire, most of the device sits outside the eye. The users would need to wear special eye glasses containing a tiny battery-powered camera and a transmitter, which would send images to the chip implanted behind the retina. The new device is expected to be quite durable, since the chip is enclosed in a titanium casing, making it both water-proof and corrosion-proof. The researchers estimate that the device will last for at least 10 years inside the eye."

Scaling Provision of Stem Cells (April 09 2008) http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=20533

Large scale progress in research and clinical application of stem cell therapies requires an industry of cell provision. The MIT Technology Review profiles the efforts of BioTime to be a provider: "Stem cells hold great promise for medicine, both as a potential source of replacement cells for damaged organs and as a scientific resource to study disease and develop and test new drugs. But to realize that promise, scientists have to figure out how to make their products on an industrial scale. It's clear we'll need a much better strategy for reliably and reproducibly generating large numbers of specific cell types. Most studies until now have stopped short of doing this. I could clearly see a customer base in scientists who simply see stem cells as a way of providing lots of cells for their use. Currently, scientists prod stem cells to develop into specific cell types by exposing them to some of the same chemicals those cells would encounter during normal development. However, the process is often inefficient, yielding a small number of the desired cells that must then be purified from other cell types. BioTime is already gearing up commercial manufacturing, aiming to begin shipping cells in six to 12 months."

An Interesting Use of Targeted Immmunotherapy (April 08 2008) http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USHKG297707

Biotechnologies that allow targeting of very specific cell types are a powerful and versatile tool, as demonstrated in this application via Reuters: "Although human embryonic stem cells are a very powerful source to make differentiated cells, like heart cells, the problem is that you can have residual cells and there is a safety concern because they can form [a] mass of tumor cells. So if you give a product that is 95 percent heart cells, but 5 percent embryonic stem cells, it may be a problem later on. The researchers managed to generate antibodies in mice after injecting human embryonic stem cells into the animals. The antibodies were then harvested and added to cultured embryonic stem cells that had been newly differentiated on laboratory dishes. ... [the antibody] specifically eliminated undifferentiated cells within 30 minutes but left differentiated cells untouched." So here, tools developed in cancer research are turned to making a foundation for regenerative medicine more practical.

The Limits of Regenerative Medicine (April 07 2008) http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/539402/

All too many efforts aimed at treating age-related disease are nothing more than brief patches for the problem - treat the symptoms but not the cause for a small gain. Regenerative medicine sometimes falls into this category: researchers "have discovered that dopamine cells that have been transplanted into the brain of patients with Parkinson disease [PD] develop pathologic changes characteristic of [PD] and do not appear to function normally. Dopamine cells are transplanted into the brain of PD patients in the hope that they can replace those that degenerate and thereby improve symptoms of the disease. This study shows that implanted cells can become affected by the disease process and thereby limits the long-term utility of this approach. ... In the study, the patient improved initially but then deteriorated. These findings suggest that the disease process is ongoing and can damage newly implanted cells." When all you can do is patch, you patch, but we're moving into a more capable era now. We should aim higher, at eliminating root causes.

April 7, 2008

Simple Nanomedicine: the Power of Targeting (April 03 2008) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402181236.htm

You might recall a 2006 technology demonstration in which comparatively simple nanoparticles were used to deliver the toxin fumagillin to sites of errant blood vessel formation, and thus disrupt atherosclerotic plaques without otherwise damaging the patient. Here, ScienceDaily reports on the same approach directed to attack cancer: "The nanoparticles are extremely tiny beads of an inert, oily compound that can be coated with a wide variety of active substances. The researchers describe a significant reduction of tumor growth in rabbits that were treated with nanoparticles coated with a fungal toxin called fumagillin. In addition to fumagillin, the nanoparticles' surfaces held molecules designed to stick to proteins found primarily on the cells of growing blood vessels. So the nanoparticles latched on to sites of blood vessel proliferation and released their fumagillin load into blood vessel cells. Fumagillin blocks multiplication of blood vessel cells, so it inhibited tumors from expanding their blood supply and slowed their growth." Precisely targeted chemotherapy is being demonstrated to be a more effective chemotherapy, lacking in unpleasant side-effects. This sort of technology is a foundation for highly effective, painless cancer therapies.

Generating the Cells Needed for Therapy (April 03 2008) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/uom-scb040308.php

Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering require the ability to create cells to order, and researchers are presently working to produce that infrastructure. Illustrative work to that end via EurekAlert!: "a major stumbling block to developing new treatments has been the difficulty scientists have faced ensuring the stem cells turn into the type of cell required for any particular condition - in the case of diabetes, pancreatic cells. Unprompted, the majority of stem cells turn into simple nerve cells called neurons. Less than one per cent of embryonic stem cells would normally become insulin-producing pancreatic cells, so the challenge has been to find a way of producing much greater quantities of these cells. The team found that the transcription factor PAX4 encouraged high numbers of embryonic stem cells - about 20% - to become pancreatic beta cells with the potential to produce insulin when transplanted into the body. Furthermore, the scientists for the first time were able to separate the new beta cells from other types of cell produced using a technique called 'fluorescent-activated cell sorting' which uses a special dye to color the pancreatic cells green."

Self-Assembling Nanoscaffolds for Nerve Regeneration (April 02 2008) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402114819.htm

Researchers continue to work on methods of nerve regeneration. Here's one via ScienceDaily: "spinal cord injury often leads to permanent paralysis and loss of sensation below the site of the injury because the damaged nerve fibers can't regenerate. The nerve fibers or axons have the capacity to grow again, but don't because they're blocked by scar tissue that develops around the injury. Researchers have shown that a new nano-engineered gel inhibits the formation of scar tissue at the injury site and enables the severed spinal cord fibers to regenerate and grow. The gel is injected as a liquid into the spinal cord and self-assembles into a scaffold that supports the new nerve fibers as they grow up and down the spinal cord, penetrating the site of the injury. When the gel was injected into mice with a spinal cord injury, after six weeks the animals had a greatly enhanced ability to use their hind legs and walk."

Nuts and Bolts of Vitrification (April 01 2008) http://depressedmetabolism.com/2008/03/31/vitrification-agents-in-cryonics-vm-1/

Learn more about vitrification in the cryonics industry at Depressed Metabolism: "A major public misperception is that cryonics involves the freezing of dead people. The objective of cryonics is not to preserve dead people with the hope of future revival but to place critically ill patients in a state of biostasis until a time when more advanced medical technologies might be available to treat and cure them. Currently, all major cryonics organizations induce metabolic arrest of the brain by attempting vitrification rather than freezing. Unless a patient has suffered a long period of circulatory arrest, after which perfusion of the body or brain is no longer possible, metabolic arrest is induced by cooling down the patient to cryogenic temperatures. Vitrification can be defined as 'the process of converting a material into a glass-like amorphous solid that is free from any crystalline structure.' Because vitrification of pure water would require extremely rapid cooling rates, vitrification in cryonics is achieved by substituting the water of patients with a highly concentrated cryoprotectant agent before cooling."

Progress in Medical Nanomachinery (April 01 2008) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/uoc--urd033108.php

Researchers are already moving beyond complex nanoparticles and into the realm of the first simple medical nanomachines. Via EurekAlert!: "Known as a 'nanoimpeller,' the device is the first light-powered nanomachine that operates inside a living cell, a development that has strong implications for cancer treatment. Nanomaterials suitable for this type of operation must consist of both an appropriate container and a photo-activated moving component. Researchers used mesoporous silica nanoparticles and coated the interiors of the pores with azobenzene, a chemical that can oscillate between two different conformations upon light exposure. Operation of the nanoimpeller was demonstrated using a variety of human cancer cells, including colon and pancreatic cancer cells. The nanoparticles were given to human cancer cells in vitro and taken up in the dark. When light was directed at the particles, the nanoimpeller mechanism took effect and released the contents. The pores of the particles can be loaded with cargo molecules, such as dyes or anticancer drugs. In response to light exposure, a wagging motion occurs, causing the cargo molecules to escape from the pores and attack the cell. Impeller operation can be regulated precisely by the intensity of the light, the excitation time and the specific wavelength."

Another Path to Dopamine Neurons (March 31 2008) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/yu-usc032808.php

EurekAlert! reports on another of the many teams working to create a cost-effective source of dopamine-producing neurons to replace those lost in Parkinson's disease: "Previously, we were able to coax these multipotent [uterine] stem cells to differentiate into cartilage cells. Now we have found that we can turn uterine stem cells into neurons that can boost dopamine levels and partially correct the problem of Parkinson’s disease. The stem cells in this study were derived from human endometrial stromal cells that were cultured under conditions that induce the creation of neurons. These cells then developed axon-like projections and cell bodies with a pyramid shape typical of neurons. The dopamine levels in the mice increased once we transferred the stem cells into their brains. The implications of our findings are that women have a ready supply of stem cells that are easily obtained, are differentiable into other cell types, and have great potential use for other purposes."

More Thoughts on Engineered Longevity (March 31 2008) http://www.philosophynow.org/issue66/66tallis.htm

Over at Philosophy Now, an example of moderate, sensible support for the engineering of greater human longevity, and rejection of a variety of foolish arguments against that goal: "despite large increases in life span, the length of the period of illness before death is remaining steady, and the proportion of life spent ill is declining. Even this welcome prospect does not satisfy some miserabilists: 'We cannot afford all these old people' is the cry. Hidden in that statement is the assumption that old people, even in good health (as most are), are not going to contribute to the wealth of the nation. There is, of course, no reason why they too should not be producers - so long as they are not prevented from doing so by negative expectations and ageist attitudes, and policies ensuring that those negative expectations are fulfilled. We may anticipate therefore that for many, perhaps most people in developed countries, average healthy, productive life expectancy will increase indefinitely."

LATEST HEALTHY LIFE EXTENSION HEADLINES:  March 31. 2008

Olshanksy on the Longevity Dividend (March 28 2008) http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/people-blog/?p=1744

Here's a third transcript from last year's Securing the Longevity Dividend event. The speaker is S. Jay Olshansky, representative of those who believe the best path forward is to slow aging via metabolic manipulation. "Now, let me just give you the bottom line, and then I will give you the rationale behind it. The main argument in this manuscript was fairly straightforward, and that is, the time has arrived for us to make an investment that we have never made before, and that is an effort to slow the biological process of aging in people. We are making this argument now for a number of reasons, one of the most important of which is - and you are speaking to a very conservative individual here - I am willing to say something now that I was not willing to say just five to ten years ago. That is that I believe the technology and the field of aging has advanced sufficiently that many of us now believe that it is not just a plausible goal to slow aging in people, but a necessary goal - something that we must pursue in the coming decades, for reasons that I am going to demonstrate shortly."

Hair Follicles to Blood Vessels (March 28 2008) http://www.buffalo.edu/news/9287

Tissue engineers at work: "Engineering blood vessels for bypass surgery, promoting the formation of new blood vessels or regenerating new skin tissue using stem cells obtained from the most accessible source - hair follicles - is a real possibility. We have demonstrated that engineered blood vessels prepared with smooth muscle progenitor cells from hair follicles are capable of dilating and constricting, critical properties that make them ideal for engineering cardiovascular tissue regeneration. Since smooth muscle cells comprise the muscle of numerous tissues and organs, including the bladder, abdominal cavity and gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts, this new, accessible source of cells may make possible future treatments that allow for the regeneration of these damaged organs as well. The best case scenario is that from this one very accessible and highly proliferative source of stem cells, we will be able to obtain multiple different cell types that can be used for a broad range of applications in regenerative medicine."

Aubrey de Grey on Barbara Walters (March 27 2008) http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/48744649_barbara-walters-reports-live-be-150-can-you-do-it-

Biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey will be one of the scientists featured in a Barbara Walters special to be aired on April 1st. I can't imagine that this will be at all rigorous in its examination of longevity science, but the more who hear the message, the better: "From a potential breakthrough pill to controversial rejuvenation technologies, Walters reports on what the future may hold, as well as what one expert says is the only proven way to extend life.  'I think that within the next few decades, we have a pretty good chance of effectively defeating aging as a cause of death,' says [Dr. Aubrey de Grey], a respected and controversial expert on the biology of aging. But if the keys to living a long, healthy life are not found soon, some people will rely on [cryonics] - chemically preserving one's body at very low temperatures in hope of one day being brought back to life. Also, how close are we to using rejuvenation technology to regenerate body parts? Someday, if you get into an auto accident, we'll just take a skin cell and grow you up a new kidney... cells could, in the future, replace almost any part of the body.'"

The Biomechanisms of Pluripotency (March 26 2008) http://www.hhmi.org/news/orkin20080325.html

What makes a stem cell pluripotent, or an embyronic stem cell totipotent, able to form all other cell types? It has to be down to the mechanisms of genes and proteins, and researchers are working to understand those mechanisms: scientists have "identified a network of hundreds of genes that keep embryonic stem cells in their characteristic malleable state, able to develop into any cell type when the time comes. The finding, based on studies of mouse cells, provides valuable insight into the way stem cells function, and could help researchers find ways to reprogram adult cells for therapeutic use. There has been a recent explosion of interest in reprogramming skin or other developed cells to act like stem cells, with the ultimate goal of treating disease. But currently, he said, the process is still essentially a "black box." You add genes, and the cells reprogram. What happens in between? This kind of work provides the materials to get a better understanding of that process. The goal is to be able to manipulate cells in a very directed way."

Prizes for Our Folding@Home Team (March 25 2008) http://www.fightaging.org/archives/001441.php

I'm pleased to note that the Immortality Institute folk will be offering incentive prizes to participants in the Longevity Meme Folding@Home team on a quarterly basis going forward: "The Longevity Meme team has grown and performed very well in the years since its formation. It takes organization and active recruitment to break into the top 200 ranked teams; many of the Immortality Institute regulars have stepped up to provide that organization. Thank you all for helping to make the team a continuing success. ... Winners will be determined by how many points are accumulated over the course of three months as reported at the Stanford Folding@home statistics site. The first quarter of competition begins at 12:00 a.m. Eastern daylight time (U.S.) April 2nd and ends at 12:00 midnight, Eastern daylight time, on June 30th." Newcomers are welcome, so jump on in and help the team climb the ranks.

Therapeutic Cloning Versus Parkinson's (March 24 2008) http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13523.html

The New Scientist reports on the use of therapeutic cloning in development of a cell therapy for Parkinson's disease: "An international team has restored mice with a condition similar to Parkinson's disease back to health, using neurons grown in the lab that were made from their own cloned skin cells. All six mice that had been given grafts of neurons derived from their own skin cells got significantly better, scoring well on tests of movement. It was a very challenging project. You need a special set of expertise that is typically not available in an individual lab. If the process cannot be made less technically demanding, any treatment for human patients is likely to be extremely costly. This is why many researchers are excited about the possibility of using a simpler genetic reprogramming technique [that can] can turn skin cells into cells that have similar properties to [embryonic stem] cells."

On Progress in Limb Regrowth (March 24 2008) http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=regrowing-human-limbs&print=true

Scientific American looks at work on bringing organ regeneration from lower animals to mammals like us: "Our research group has already described a natural blastema in a mouse amputation injury, and our goal within the next year is to induce a blastema where it would not normally occur. We hope that this line of investigation will also reveal whether, as we suspect, the blastema itself provides critical signaling that prevents fibrosis in the wound site. If we succeed in generating a blastema in a mammal, the next big hurdle for us would be coaxing the site of a digit amputation to regenerate the entire digit. Developmental biologists are still trying to understand how joints are made naturally, so building a regenerated mouse digit, joints and all, would be a major milestone in the regeneration field. We hope to reach it in the next few years, and after that, the prospect of regenerating an entire mouse paw, and then an arm, will not seem so remote. Indeed, when we consider all that we have learned about wound healing and regeneration from studies in various animal models, the surprising conclusion is that we may be only a decade or two away from a day when we can regenerate human body parts."