Articles: Archive Last Updated: 25 December 2024 - 12:36 PM

After careful consideration of a very competitive round this year, we are delighted to have identified a research team and project that we can warmly recommend for community funding:

DEVELOPMENT OF AN INNOVATIVE GENE THERAPY METHOD TO CURE MITOCHONDRIAL AGING-
"BACKING UP" THE MITOCHONDRIAL GENOME

Background:
Mitochondria, the power plants of the cell, contain their own DNA. Unlike the nucleus, mitochondria lack an efficient system to repair damaged DNA, and this damage accumulates over time. As we age, these accumulated mutations result in an increase in oxidative stress throughout the body. It is no coincidence that organisms which age more slowly consistently display lower rates of mitochondrial free radical damage. Reversing and/or preventing damage to mitochondrial DNA may be a key factor in slowing the aging process.




The Research Project:
In this project, engineered mitochondrial genes will be used to restore function to cells that contain defective mitochondrial genes.
The SENS team is developing a unique method for targeting these genes to the mitochondria; this step has been the bottleneck in research on this topic over the last decade. In their system, the mRNA from the engineered mitochondrial gene is targeted to the mitochondrial surface before it is translated into a protein using a co-translation import strategy. Once imported, it is incorporated into the correct location in the inner mitochondrial membrane. The long-term goal of this project is to utilize this improved targeting strategy to rescue mutated mitochondrial DNA and thereby prevent and cure one of the major causes of cellular aging.



The Team:
Dr. Matthew 'Oki' O'Connor former Post-Doctoral Scholar at the Bioengineering Department University of California Berkeley (PI: Irina M. Conboy) is now a Senior Researcher at the SENS Research Foundation Research Center in Mountain View, California

--
--the team --the lab
Research brief here:
View attachment: LCSci2013_3.pdf
Or here

You can pose questions to the researcher here.


CLICK TO DONATE

What is LongeCity?
LongeCity is a registered, members-based non-profit organisation.
More info here.


What THEMES of science projects does LongeCity support?
We support research into ageing and the extension of human lifespan. This means we support many types of medical research and research into basic biology, but there should be an angle that will allow people to live longer, healthier lives.


What TYPES of science projects does LongeCity support?
We support laboratory research, clinical research, bioinformatics and theoretical research in the ‘hard sciences’. We do not normally support social science research.
We do support some events, mentorship and travel to scientific conferences, but not under the ‘research budget’.


Where can the research take place?
Anywhere in the world. Laboratory research should normally be conducted in an established lab.


What does LongeCity expect in return?
Scientific integrity. Normally a written report. Interim updates for longer projects. Acknowledgement of the funding received. We may approach previous grantholders to be available as peer reviewers for future research applications.


What grant schemes are available?

a) Small Grants
Funding: up to $500
Who can apply: any LongeCity Member, it helps if you have a sponsor/supervisor with some track record
Type: typical cases are support for summer projects, internships, workshops, review paper writing, selected consumables
Next deadline: none, applications are welcome until the annual budget is exhausted
Details: http://www.longecity...s/action/grants

b) Matching Fundraiser
Funding: up to $20.000 (in total- matching fundraiser)
Who can apply: Scientists
Type: For selected projects, LongeCity will issue a call for donations and for every dollar received LongeCity will match (or better) the donation. The entire money goes to support the research project.
Next deadline: July 1^st 2013
Details: http://www.longecity...ts/research2013


Questions?
Contact us.

What can I do!?

This is a natural question that those sharing the mission to abolish the blight of involuntary death often ask.
At LongeCity, we are providing a lot of community-sourced suggestions and for a long while we have wrestled with a succinct answer. Such a ‘take action’ page as provided by other organisations is still something we are looking to polish… but maybe the question also deserves a slightly longer answer – especially for those young people (whether in life or at heart, we get a lot of them especially at LongeCity) who ask the question in the context of planning to (re)orient their entire life and career towards life extension. 

Over the next few months, I’m hoping to develop a short ‘primer’ to help with this most weighty of decisions.
This task is certainly too big, too important to be monopolized. I would therefore welcome any suggestions and alternative perspectives during the drafting stages.

to be continued...

LongeCity continues to support small-scale, high-impact life extension research with community crowdfunding.
(For a review of previous projects see here)

Projects should:
- aim to make a scientific contribution to the extension of the human lifespan
- be applied research or basic research with some potential for applied development
- present short updates for LongeCity Members with interim data, photos from the facility etc at agreed intervals
- be led or overseen by a person with a postgraduate qualification in the relevant field or by a person with demonstrable equivalent experience
- have a flexible project structure that can be adjusted according to the amount of money raised
- be small in scale - one or two key workers
- be short in duration - approx 6 months maximum
- not be confidential. LongeCity will expect open and public presentation and discussion of research results. However, confidentiality will be accepted where a manuscript or patent is in preparation.

In 2013, we are not just matching, but trebling donations
LongeCity will launch a call for donations. Every donation received will be trebled. Projects can have a total budget of $3.000- $21.000. (Hence needing to raise only $1.000-$7.000)

Interested applicants should send
- a project outline of no more than 1000 words written in lay language (can be supported by up to 10 literature references)
- a curriculum vitae of the project leader
to research@longecity.org


Deadline: July 1st 2013 (or until further notice).