Articles: LongeCity Last Updated: 21 November 2024 - 10:10 AM

Conference Aug10-11, Free Ticket? 06 June 2023 - 12:43 AM

https://www.lifespan.io/ending-age-related-diseases-2023/

The good folks from Lifespan.io have asked whether LongeCity would sponsor this event as we have in the past.

The sponsorship would come with a free ticket, but unfortunately, Mind has reported from other conferences cannot attend.

Is there another LongeCity member whom would like to go?

- You need to be a member (but if this entices you to join for the first time, that's fine)

- You promise to write a conference report and share it on this forum

- If we manage to send you some LC flyers, you promise to hand them out (or at least put them somewhere where people can take them)

If you are interested, please use the contact form ("small grants" tab) ASAP

View attachment: leafcon.png

community biomarkers data 27 June 2021 - 11:39 AM

We are now looking for early stage contributors and testers for a new community biomarker database LongeCity is developing with OpenCures.

→ https://www.longecity.org/BASE/

aging biomarkers- breath sample trial 04 March 2021 - 01:15 AM

We are researching the biomarkers in breath and planning a small pilot study with a handful of volunteers in the San Francisco Bay area.

The attached leaflet explains the background and procedure.
Giving a breath sample (at the SENS Foundation parking lot, in Mountain View) takes five minutes.
Sampling appointments can be booked for any timeslot (including evening and weekends) 01-14th March by emailing: alexandra.stolzing@sens.org

We need volunteers across a wide age range, so please state your age when you make contact and don't be disappointed that we cannot accept everyone.
If there are any questions please feel free to contact: Prof. Alexandra Stolzing at the address above
And please feel free to share this invite with those interested in aging research, especially seniors.

participant information leaflet (.pdf)
link to video about the breath sampler

BASE Victor @OpenCures 19 May 2020 - 11:03 PM

update: May 31st 2020

Thanks to the wonderful contributions of so many donors we have made excellent progress with the fundraiser… but we had such short time to finish it by today's deadline that it was always going to be tricky.
Luckily, at the last minute, another solution has been found!
Kevin at OpenCures reached out to Kelsey Moody at Ichor Therapeutics - another LongeCity Affiliate Lab. And it has now been confirmed that Ichor are very likely able to host Victor for the remainder of his visa! LongeCity has to date supported seven interns at Ichor and we are confident that Victor’s stay will be as successful. He will no doubt learn a lot – but he won’t be working on BASE and that changes the fundraiser goals slightly.
The new plan is as follows: We will use $1K of the money raised (plus any funds obtained specifically from the “Victor Run” next week) to help Victor re-settle in NewYork. The rest of the funds will go towards developing the BASE platform with the help of OpenCures as originally planned.

We hope this re-orientation meets with the approval of those who very kindly donated to date.

LongeCity’s policy has always been one of transparency and accountability with our fundraising. If you would prefer in light of the changed circumstances that we refund your donation that is not a problem: simply write us an email at info@longecity.org with the details of your donation (date and name) by June 8th 2020.
In any event- thank you so much for contributing to this community effort - stay tuned for an update on BASE and an internship report from Victor at Ichor towards the end of this year.

Initial fundraiser text below
further updates and comments in the corresponding forum thread

For years while Victor pursued his studies he has been active in organizations promoting research and activism for longer and healthier lifespans -- including many contributions to the LongeCity community. After obtaining his degree Victor, originally from Sweden, was thrilled to be recruited to intern at an aging research company in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now, because of COVID19, his engagement had to be terminated and Victor’s visa is in peril.

With the goodwill of supporters, we hope to raise enough funds to enable Victor to stay and work with one of our Affiliate Labs in the area:

OpenCures, the latest venture by our former Director Kevin Perrott helps self-directed researchers access cutting-edge tools such as mass spectrometry to self-evaluate their biomarkers. Classified as an essential biotech, OpenCures is not restricted by the current lockdown provisions.
At OpenCures, Victor could not only gain valuable experience and training but also help with a key project for LongeCity:

Biomarkers of Aging Self Experimentation (BASE) aims to advance longevity science by collating data from scientific sources and personal test results in a curated community format.
The project will empower LongeCity members to analyse and understand their own data, recruit new ‘citizen scientists’ to the community, and provide a valuable open source reference for researchers.

OpenCures -with Victors input- are the ideal partner for this community initiative.

Fundraiser Goal: $13 000.-
- LongeCity will MATCH each donation -- for a total of $26K!

This fundraiser will cover the minimum expenses for Victor’s lawful employment at OpenCures for the remainder of his visa and the technical and conceptual development of the BASE project. Funds will be collected by LongeCity and transferred to OpenCures as a research grant.

Donations can be made ⇒ here via paypal or credit card.
You do not need a paypal account - but select 'paypal' as payment processor for credit card payments. You also do not have to register or join (but if you are a Member remember to log in first so the donation can be duly credited to you).
We will gladly issue you with a receipt for tax purposes upon request. You can track the progress from the ⇒forum index page.

LongeCity (Longecity.org/ImmInst.org) is an international, not-for-profit, membership-based organization (⇒more info) LongeCity’s approach to supporting regenerative science has always been characterized by small-scale, high-impact projects sourced and steered by and in connection with its community. Years before ‘crowdfunding’ and ‘citizen science’ became well known concepts they were practiced at LongeCity. You can read about some of our previous initiatives ⇒here & here

For any questions please contact info@longecity.org.

MitoMouse support 30 September 2019 - 12:50 PM

update: Oct 29th

Many thanks to all who contributed to the effort, through facebook and twitter, by writing quizzes and to those members who donated.
The campaign is now in its last stretch. The best news: the main funding goal has been achieved! This will allow the team to create the MITOMOUSE as a valuable new research resource.
Donations have also almost reached ‘Stretch Goal I’ – in this step, the team will evaluate factors that are important to the life extension community - like frailty and fitness.
With just a few days remaining, this goal is well within reach!
However, ‘Stretch Goal II’ is also very important: this is because the scientific community has noted one particular characteristic of the mitochondrally deficient mice: they have a reduced fertility – smaller litter sizes. By demonstrating that this characteristic could also be ‘cured’ through the genetic modifications passed on through the MITOMOUSE the team will pass a ‘gold standard’ test of validation.

For this reason LongeCity makes the following pledge:

If we reach Stretch Goal I, LongeCity will fund StrechGoal II as well.

This commitment comes with a proviso: we will review the data from the main goal and StrechGoal I – using independent peer reviewers as necessary. If at the time the fertility testing is required as expected, it will be funded as planned. However if we find in dialogue with the MITOSENS team that instead the results from the earlier phases need further development, funds earmarked for the second stretch goal will be offered to SENS to be used for that alternative purpose. We think this is the best route to ensure that every donation, large and small is used to maximum effect. LongeCity will work with the teams at SENS and lifespan.io to ensure that the progress of the research is reported back to the community and remains open to community feedback.

Since our founding in 2003 as a small a non-profit community forum we have been excited to watch the emergence of the SENS approach and Foundation leading the fight against the blight of involuntary death. While originally dismissed as ‘too radical’ many of the strategies proposed by Dr.deGrey have since gained widespread recognition in scientific circles.
The MITOSENS approach has always been among the most ambitious ideas and therefore in special need of community funding. LongeCity is proud to have been the first to organise such funding in 2013 and to contribute to the Lifespan.io inaugural fundraiser for the team in 2015.
Based on the breakthrough results from these projects, MITOSENS is now on the verge of establishing conclusive proof of principle for the strategy.

To support this effort, LongeCity will

A. match any donation up to $1000 by an Immortality Institute member.
Members who made a donation please post here.

and

B. contribute to the fundraiser
• $30 for a tweet by anyone mentioning @longecity_org and the fundraiser*
• $30 for a post by anyone on the LongeCity facebook page*
• $300 for each MOUSE 'bought' here with LongeCity ‘community points’
• $800 for each new member of the Immortality Institute (reply ‘mitosens’ to the introductory email)
• $1000 for a new quiz accepted at LongeCity (send us a PM when the quiz was created)

*(one per person - we'll monitor our twitter/facebook accounts and keep a tally)

Support in each case is at the sole discretion of LongeCity and subject to remaining funds in our community budget.

SelfTesting Programme 07 August 2019 - 05:23 PM

"Biomarkers of Aging Self Experimentation (BASE)"

This is our current flagship programme in this field. BASE’s goal is to better comprehend aging interventions over time and present this data in a useful way.
We are inviting participants to contribute age biomarker data alongside information about their lifestyle and nutrition.
To participate, anyone may complete the BASE Questionnaire anonymously. Qualifying participants may claim a partial reimbursement.
Results will be shared internally among participants, with a view towards generating an open source database.
The initiative is at an early stage - parameters are likely to change and we are very open to feedback.
⇒ https://www.longecity.org/base/

"Aging Biomarkers"

We all know that biologically and medically, people age at different rates. Understanding why could be a key part in retarding or reversing aging. However, measuring biological age is far more complicated than counting chronological age. In recent years various new methods have been proposed.
In 2018 LongeCity started a programme supporting our Members in gaining experience with these tests by granting a subsidy for procuring these tests from selected service providers on the condition that the Members self-report the results and their experiences ⇒ on our internal forum. (link)
We remain very interested in evaluating new biomarkers of aging. We will follow the results of this initiative and support others like the ⇒ AGEMETER tool.

"N=1 Experiments"

Since our founding, this site has attracted individuals who are impatient for the state of medical consensus to advance and are experimenting with supplements, techniques and experimental compounds. This has many pitfalls: first and foremost the risk to the individual, the flavour of chasing ‘magic’ that has always tainted the life-extension field, along with the dreadful folly of ‘testimonials’; the risk of generating the flawed impression that taking life extending supplements must somehow be ‘felt’ quickly; a turning away from the principles of scientific equipoise and the hard truths of evidence-based medicine.
Nonetheless this self-experimentation goes on and has some aspects that are worth celebrating: the intensive and personalised engagement with scientific evidence; the assumption of individual responsibility for health and wellbeing; the ongoing adventure of discovery that would not be possible without plenty of risk-takers. To be clear: Faced with these perspectives, LongeCity as an organisiation maintains absolute neutrality. We do not in any way encourage or promote self-experimentation, nor do we condemn and suppress evidence of it. We do however, wish that some ‘self experiments’ were more responsibly planned, conducted, and reported with a view towards generating the most reliable dataset possible. We have therefore set aside some potential funding to complement those experiments that have the potential to yield insights that could be of generalisable interest to the LongeCity community.

Generally, the scheme works as follows:
- An individual (the Subject) develops a supplement or other regimen based on an informed review of the literature, community advice and the available sources.
- The Subject develops a testing plan that assesses meaningful metabolic parameters at meaningful intervals.
- The Subject commences the regimen. The Subject pays for all supplies and the baseline test which must be published on LongeCity in annonymised form.
- LongeCity can be approached to pay for a subsequent test. This does not entail an endorsement of the experiment but simply a desire to further asses some of the safety and efficacy parameters in question.
If you want to participate in this initiative, please ⇒ contact us.

Aging Biomarker Testing Support Programme 18 May 2018 - 08:57 PM

Background

LongeCity.org has long been a hotbed of information exchange and discussion about various methods of slowing or reversing the process of aging. An incredible number of supplements have been tried, exercise routines employed, and eating patterns explored.
Is it any of it working? Have LongeCity members succeeded in slowing aging and remaining healthier than their contemporaries?
Precious few people maintain a regular schedule of objective testing for health and aging biomarkers. Even fewer make those results public. LongeCity aims to change this state of affairs.
In order to foster a ‘citizen scientist’ culture of objective self-monitoring and knowledge sharing LongeCity is supporting all Immortality Institute Members in procuring tests for next-generation biological age markers.

Which tests are supported?

Generally, tests that rely on epigenetic aging markers to give a ‘biological age’ profile and are easily obtainable through reputable third-party testingproviders.

    Currently the following commercially available tests are supported:
     • Epimorphy (https://www.mydnage.com/)
     • Osiris Green (https://www.osirisgreen.com/)
     • TeloYears (https://www.teloyears.com/)

While these tests fit the above description, they are quite different in what they measure. Make sure you use the resources on longecity and elsewhere to make an informed decision which test to choose. Further reading.
Currently our subsidy programme combined with a provider discount means that one of these tests is available to Immortality Institute Members for free or at a substantial discount.
Members can suggest other tests to be included in the list. Contact us with suggestions and references.

Steps for Participants

STEP 1. You need to be a Member of the Immortality Institute. (If you are not yet a member - it may well be worth joining since the discount for the test more than covers your membership donation.)

STEP 2. Register your interest here. (Do not just go and order your test! Wait until you get the ‘all clear’and discount code from the Membership Secretary via forum PM.)

STEP 3. Order the test from the provider using the discount code provided. (Please note that this will involve paying the provider upfront and making sure that you collect your biological samples as instructed and mail them back to the provider)

STEP 4. Post your results here. The minimum information required is your real (calendar) age and your biological age as determined by the test. However, we’d really like you to share as much information as you think may be pertinent regarding lifestyle, diet, supplementation etc. that might shine a light on your results for further analysis. You don’t have to disclose your name and address).

STEP 5. LongeCity will reimburse you the costs of the test up to a maximum of $150 via paypal to your registered email address.

Note The support programme is a voluntary community effort. Particants in the programme do so at their own risk and responsibility. Any arrangements with third party testing services are private contracts between the service providerand the individual participants. LongeCity makes no guarantees regarding thequality, safety and reliability and utility of any third party tests. Financial support is provided at LongeCity's sole discretion, is not guaranteed and subject to available funds.

CellAge fundraiser support 29 January 2017 - 10:45 PM

review: LongeCity Crowdsourced Initiatives 19 July 2016 - 03:34 AM

'Crowdsourcing' information is at the heart of how LongeCity operates.
Consequently, almost all of Longecity's initiatives are community-led.
Some examples of projects we have crowdsourced in the past:

	BOOK: The Scientific Conquest of Death: Essays on Infinite Lifespans [2004] Commissioned and edited by the LongeCity community, this book brings together perspectives from scientists, doctors and philosophers to share their perspective on Longecity’s mission..
FILM: Exploring Life Extension [2005] Featuring an introduction into the scope on Longecity’s mission, through interviews with scientists and philosophers, this feature length documentary was entirely produced, filmed and edited by LongeCity volunteers.
	Cryonics Hardship Charity [2008, 2010, ongoing] The LongeCity community supported dying individuals who were unable to afford a cryonic suspension as last resort. Ever since, we maintain a collection for such emergencies.
Crowdsourced PRODUCT: Life extension multivitamin [2010-11]. The unique formulation VIMMORTAL for a multivitamin supplement was invented, refined, developed and licensed entirely from the Longecity community forums and made available for sale in [Forum Group]
	Folding @Home [2010-11] When Stanford launched the first ‘distributed computing’ project with a life science angle, LongeCity recognised the outreach potential of such initiatives and sponsored a friendly competition to bring more contributors on board and to accelerate the project. [Forum Group]
“Soil for SENS” [2005-6] Lead: J.Schloendorn. John turned to the LongeCity community and beyond in search for exotic soil samples that might contain microbes which could help to break down age-related protein build-up in humans. [ forum thread / publication]
	Mouse Studies @Home [2013] Lead: AgeVivo. Longecity supported the idea of setting up a network of “citizen scientists” looking to analyse the diet of their pet mice for life extension benefits.
‘Fight Aging’ for SENS [2013-15] Lead: Reason. While not its main platform, Longecity has always showcased the phenomenally successful ‘Fight Aging’ fundraiser in support of the SENS foundation co-ordinated by our former director Reason and other partners.
	Base Victor [2020] Lead: Kevin. When COVID19 struck Victor, a young aging researcher found his internship terminated and his visum in peril. With community support we managed to help place Victor at an LongeCity Affiliate Lab.
-	-	-
	In addition to these community initiatives, Longecity has also ⇒ taken the crowdfunding approach to research projects.

review: LongeCity Crowdfunded Research Projects 19 July 2016 - 02:05 AM

Longecity’s approach to supporting scientific research has always been characterized by small-scale, high-impact projects sourced and steered by and in connection with its community. Years before ‘crowdfunding’ and ‘citizen science’ became well known concepts they were practiced at LongeCity.

Some examples of SCIENCE projects we have crowdsourced in the past:

	“Laser ablation of lipofuscin” [2009] Lead: N.Schooler (SENS/private). An attempt to use medical lasers to eliminate Alzheimer plaques, this was an early venture in Longecity crowdfunding. While results were not of satisfactory robustness, this project paved the way towards LongeCity taking a planned approach to quality control in community crowdfunding science. [More info]
“Mitochondrial uncoupling” [2010] Lead: Dr. J.Gruber (Singapore). Modulation of the incomplete coupling of electron transfer to ATP synthesis across the mitochondrial membrane has been proposed as a mechanism to slow aging. The project investigated this hypothesis in worms. [Follow-up interview]
	“Adult stem cells versus Alzheimer's” [2011] Lead: Dr. A.Stolzing (Germany). Aiming to use adult stem cells in the fight against age-related neurodegeneration such as Alzheimer's disease. Perhaps the most ambitious LongeCity funded project to date. [Publication]
“Modelling cryoprotectant toxicity” [2012] Lead: Dr. JP de Magalhães (UK). The innate toxicity of compounds used to protect against freezing damage limits their use for advancing the science of medical biostasis. Longecity crowdfunding helped generate new insights from gene expression profiling of endothelial cells exposed to ethylene glycol, thus helping to reveal molecular signatures helpful for future experiments on cryoprotectant toxicity [Publication]
	“Mitochondria gene therapy” [2013] Lead: Dr. M.O’Connor (SENS). Another perspective at the crucial role of mitochondria in aging, this project supported research into rejuvenating these ‘power plants’ of the cell. $21K was mobilized and lead directly to a much larger follow-up project
“Buckyballs & cancer” [2014] Lead: Dr. K.Moody (Ichor), the Longecity community got very intrigued about a research paper reporting to extend mouse lifespan with nanosize C60 ‘buckyballs’. Via crowdsourcing we promoted further independent investigation into C60 effects which, as a side effect also prompted some interesting vendor testing data.
	Co -Funding In recent years, LongeCity has strategically offered co-funding to maximize the impact of fundraisers at LIFESPAN.IO Among the projects supported were: CellAge [2017]; AgeMeter [2017]; MitoMouse [2019]
-	-	-
	In addition to these specific research projects, LongeCity has ⇒ supported students via small grants, ⇒ established a research partnership and support strategy and ⇒ taken the same crowdsourcing approach to other community initiatives.

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