71 replies to this topic

[LifespanKeith]

Hello All,

 

As some of you are probably aware, we are currently running a campaign at Lifespan.io to develop new tools to aid in the targeting and removal of dysfunctional senescent cells, which contribute to various age-related disease.  

 

We feel this synthetic biology approach could be an extremely powerful tool to have in our collective arsenal, so please check out the campaign page if you have not yet and share your questions and thoughts.  We've also put together some Q&A videos with the project lead here based on community input if you'd like more info.

 

Seeking Matching Funds 

 

To correct for the campaign competing with the holidays and other large-scale fundraisers like SENS thus far, we are considering a 30 day campaign extension to help it reach it's goal (as suggested to us by numerous emails). We would like to couple this with an announcement of matching funds, which would essentially allow us to reset the momentum button and drive the campaign forward to its goal.

 

We are hoping this is something the community here can help with: so if any person or coalition here would like to step up to help this research get to the next level please feel free to comment or contact me, either here or by email keith[at]lifespan[dot]io. I'm also happy to talk via Skype or Google Hangouts to answer any questions and/or discuss the project.

 

Thanks for your time and support!

 

Keith Comito

 

 

Edited by LifespanKeith, 11 January 2017 - 07:50 PM.

[Steve H]

Great idea Keith and welcome to LC :D

[maxwatt]

Although the link that Keith provided in the post above is a crowdfunding site, there is a good bit of information on senolytics provided in the project description.  Senolytics are substances that target and purge senescent sells.  Those cells produce waste products that are responsible for many of the diseases associated with aging, and removing them turns back the clock of aging.  There are a number of possible senolytics to be found, but they are perhaps insufficiently selective to target only senescent cells.  The senolytics I have looked into are tyrosine kinase inhibitors that are used to treat cancers.  I've not spoken to the principles at Cellage, but I surmise they are looking to target other pathways.

 

Cellage hopes to begin preclinical trials in 2019.  They are offering a number of "prizes" for contributions, including a conference with Aubrey deGray in Scotland.  Some of us might prefer a chance to enroll in the clinical trials

[Droplet]

Come on folk, dig deep even if it is only a couple of dollars. I have pledged even though it wasn't a big amount. If we all did the same, it would soon add up to a real difference for life saving research.

 

Is there any chance that we could put this on the main site under the affiliate labs donation link?

Edited by Droplet, 12 January 2017 - 10:29 AM.

[Steve H]

There is also a brief review of senolytics and the key papers of the last few years that have lead up to the arrival of the first therapies in the SENS model arriving here  if anyone is late to the party and needs a quick primer. 

[Nate-2004]

Donated. Good luck on reaching the goal. I'll spread it around.

[Droplet]

Donated. Good luck on reaching the goal. I'll spread it around.

 

You absolute star and please do share it around!
 

[LifespanKeith]

@Nate thanks; donations like this are super appreciated!

@Droplet it would be amazing if the campaign could be listed like this.

 

Also if anyone is interested in significantly contributing in the form of a donation match (to help spur the crowd into action), I'd be happy to have a Skype call to discuss and coordinate with others who'd like to do the same.

 

Thanks again everyone!

 

 

[sthira]

I donated, too. A small amount, I'm not rich, wish I could fund it entirely.

But if I may make a general comment: I've donated to similar small "anti-aging" and SENS-inspired biology studies in the past, and what I've found disappointing is the general lack of follow-through by researchers with regard to results of studies.

So my suggestion, take it or leave it, is for researchers involved in this current study to be a little more transparent to your donors. That is, rather than offering us gifts or trinkets or whatever for donating -- just give us updated information about how your study is going. Is it going well, is it going poorly, are you making any progress, do you have any timelines that might be valuable?

I know constantly updating your status might consume valuable lab time away; so I'm certainly not suggesting every day or week or even every month updates. I'm just saying, hey, we love your efforts and work, we'd like to help, so just throw us a bone every now and then. We're interested people out here -- most of us are seeking ways to slow, halt, and reverse the aging process -- and we're interested in your progress! Clue us in.

Tl;dr: Provide donors with information rather than gifts.

Edited by sthira, 12 January 2017 - 09:09 PM.

[LifespanKeith]

Hi sthira; thanks for chipping in and for your comments.

 

Your points are totally valid, and hopefully something we've actually already addressed!  The current campaign has clear timelines as part of the description and we work to make sure project creators provide transparency and updates on their updates tab. For example the MitoSENS project that we funded spectacularly succeeded in their work and published in a peer-reviewd journal; information which is proudly displayed on their campaign page updates page here.  

 

On account of the "Fiscal Sponsorship" nature of what we do it is actually mandated that we follow up on our sponsored projects and receive progress reports; and we're committed to transparency related to this. That is actually one of the whole reasons we made Lifespan.io with this structure in the first place.

 

Thanks,

Keith

[maxwatt]

Count me in, I donated.

[Steve H]

Sthira there is actualy an update tab in the campaigns which some projects update. The MMTP has updated a number of times since we concluded our project and I promise we will be updating with any news we get. I could not agree with you more that science needs to engage with the audience and this was a big part of MMTPs focus, we wanted to include people on the journey. MitoSENS updated as well and that is also available at lifespan.io at their update tab. Let us hope that CellAge keeps us posted too because I completely agree with your comments.

[sthira]

Thanks for the replies, Keith and Steve -- they're helpful. And oops, I see it's my fault for not keeping up with progress made by SENS projects. One small note: not everyone uses a laptop -- I just use a cell phone -- so if sites aren't mobile friendly I don't read them.

Thank you again for your hard work and transparency! Good luck with this project!

[LifespanKeith]

No worries! Our site should be mobile responsive (it is on my iPhone at least), so feel free to let me know if you see anything wonky.

[Droplet]

I donated, too. A small amount, I'm not rich, wish I could fund it entirely.
 

 

This is what I think every time I see a life extension fundraiser. If I won a substantial amount of money, I would definitely donate some to this cause. The thing is, every small amount is a step towards the goal. If every single member did something, even if it was only giving a Dollar, Euro or Pound a month, these fundraisers would be complete in no time. We can't expect everyone to be able to afford to give out loads of money or time but just a few minutes and pennies here and there can help greatly.

 

I certainly don't like or agree with campaigns that expect everyone to drop everything and dedicate their lives to the cause - there will always be people who are willing and able to do that out there but you have to take into consideration the average person. Most people don't have much money and time is squeezed trying to make that money to survive.

 

I don't have much time or money but I try to help by making small regular donations, signposting people in the intro threads and inviting loads of people to threads like this one and the petition to increase the likelihood of them being a success. Even if I only get one or two people to help out, it is something.

[DareDevil]

Come on folk, dig deep even if it is only a couple of dollars. I have pledged even though it wasn't a big amount. If we all did the same, it would soon add up to a real difference for life saving research.

 

Is there any chance that we could put this on the main site under the affiliate labs donation link?

 

Hi Droplet,

 

Thanks for your PM. I've joined the effort. Cheers,

DareDevil

Thank you for your Pledge!

I Just Helped #CrowdfundTheCure For Aging!

I helped support life extension research by donating to the CellAge: Targeting Senescent Cells With Synthetic Biology crowdfunding campaign at https://www.lifespan...thetic-biology/. Check it out and help #CrowdfundTheCure at #LifespanIO

[Droplet]

Thank you Daredevil! Please share it if possible.

[sthira]

Bump

[Nate-2004]

I shared it again today. I've also sent the link to the SENS page on FB in hopes they'll share it and reach more. If there were some way to promote my share so that it reaches way more people I would, but I'll reshare it each day.

[LifespanKeith]

Thanks so much for stepping up everyone; we just busted through the 5-digit barrier! Like all of you I wish I was super rich so that I could fund everything instantly, but until that day comes we can still make a difference by banding together like we are now.

[sthira]

Thanks so much for stepping up everyone; we just busted through the 5-digit barrier! Like all of you I wish I was super rich so that I could fund everything instantly, but until that day comes we can still make a difference by banding together like we are now.

Awesomeness, congratulations: soon now shall emerge our time to kick the shit out of senescent cells, they've never shown us any mercy -- we'll heal our own wounds -- pain, suffering, the cruel terrors of aging, the indignities, so many lost beautiful lives: here is our collective middle finger at you, death.

[Nate-2004]

I see it's over $28000 shy of the goal still. I keep sharing but people are probably more willing to donate if it says cure cancer or heart disease than senescent cells. Nobody understands the implications of this unless they watch the video. Is there some way to spread this beyond social media or get some more attention somehow?

[sthira]

I see it's over $28000 shy of the goal still. I keep sharing but people are probably more willing to donate if it says cure cancer or heart disease than senescent cells. Nobody understands the implications of this unless they watch the video. Is there some way to spread this beyond social media or get some more attention somehow?

Maybe a more general response to that question, but strategy, democratizing research, showing how life extension (including senolytics) is directly relevant to everyone are issues addressed by Keith Comito at the DNA Conference: https://youtu.be/U7TgoiCxAPE

It has 1,600+ views.

[Droplet]

I think that if possible, the deadline for the fundraiser should be extended. I have been inviting every new user to this topic in the hope of getting a few more dollars towards a very worthy cause. Now that you have posted on Longecity, I feel that you are at an advantage and more likely to raise the funds given a little longer. You may disagree but that's what I think.

[Nate-2004]

 

I see it's over $28000 shy of the goal still. I keep sharing but people are probably more willing to donate if it says cure cancer or heart disease than senescent cells. Nobody understands the implications of this unless they watch the video. Is there some way to spread this beyond social media or get some more attention somehow?

Maybe a more general response to that question, but strategy, democratizing research, showing how life extension (including senolytics) is directly relevant to everyone are issues addressed by Keith Comito at the DNA Conference:

It has 1,600+ views.

 

 

Definitely great points. This campaign is not following any of this advice though. If you guys have any ideas I can try them. I don't know that finding a kid named Jimmy will help.  Three days left and still 28000 short, we need to step it up if this is going to get funded.

[Nate-2004]

Control alt delete cancer worked because it had the word cancer in it. While this project has to do with more than just cancer, people are still focused on specific diseases and they only think in this way. Most people can't and don't think broadly or imaginatively enough to see a campaign for eliminating senescent cells and go "oh these poor people let me donate", they haven't been emotionally affected and their interest in science is mostly on a discovery channel level. It's too abstract, it doesn't appeal to emotions. The Jimmy fund did just that. People have been emotionally affected by cancer in their lives to such a degree now that if you're in the comedy community like me, you know that making any jokes about it should be avoided unless you're really really good at making people laugh.

Edited by Nate-2004, 17 January 2017 - 02:57 PM.

[sthira]

One huge problem is evident in this very thread: few posters, limited excitement or even interest in this promising research. People including you and me want something now. And here, month after year after decade we here will continue to chase often useless supplements and nootropics based on lies and hype in hopes of curing or modifying our own N=1 whatever.

Instead of buying yet another bottle of $29.95 promise-pills, if more here just said -- ok, I'm gonna skip buying just this ONE BOTTLE of Niagen or pterostilbene or curcumin or whatever's hyped now -- then we would dramatically reach forward in the direction everyone is seeking.

People including myself will buy supplements because we're hoping they'll help us achieve our goals. But do they ever? Sometimes, maybe, but most often we'll take X supplement for awhile, realize it's not doing anything, then half a bottle will sit on the shelf.

It's hard to donate to research like this because the benefits seem much farther away than just buying another supplement. Too bad we can't face this issue head on in a more direct way: our $29.95 is better spent on promising research even if it doesn't feel that way. How to get this message across to people?

Edited by sthira, 17 January 2017 - 04:00 PM.

[Nate-2004]

Like I said, the only way to get people to donate is to appeal to compassion or emotion in some way. Put a face to it, hitch a ride on the words cancer or diabetes or things people are already wanting to fund. 

 

I agree though, people should be more inclined to fund this type of thing than the relatively ineffective supplements they keep buying. I see the long term benefit of donating towards this stuff but I think people are largely disillusioned by the stifling regulatory roadblocks that stand in the way of the practical applications that turn up from research.

Edited by Nate-2004, 17 January 2017 - 04:06 PM.

[sthira]

Like I said, the only way to get people to donate is to appeal to compassion or emotion in some way. Put a face to it, hitch a ride on the words cancer or diabetes or things people are already wanting to fund.

I agree with that, of course, but I'd wager "most" people here (Longecity) are not currently dealing with cancer, diabetes, obesity and the effects of bad lifestyle choices. This is a more select audience: many are here seeking treatments for future cancer, diabetes, et al that we know degenerative aging will inevitably bring us unless we find answers.

How to shift just one spending habit -- one bottle of NR -- to help fund research like this?

I agree though, people should be more inclined to fund this type of thing than the relatively ineffective supplements they keep buying. I see the long term benefit of donating towards this stuff but I think people are largely disillusioned by the stifling regulatory roadblocks that stand in the way of the practical applications that turn up from research.

Sure, stifling regulation is one factor but others exist, too. Like the propriety greed that often arises when researchers do find something. X "works in healthy humans?" Great, now that we're built our success on taxpayer and individual donations, let's determine how to charge healthy humans as much as possible to access it. Let's get rich off the hopes and aging of others -- others who helped fund the research success to begin with! I'm not saying this is happening here; but we want hope and we want benefits now, and we're often unwilling to nearly blindly plunk down cash into some university hole, and wait. Yet waiting and waiting and waiting shall continue to be what we get, ironically.

Edited by sthira, 17 January 2017 - 04:36 PM.

[Nate-2004]

This is the wrong area of the forum for that, if you can even appeal to the users here.  I don't know who checks this area. The PM's are what got me here but some people might have disregarded them as spam. This should be posted in threads on inflammaging or NR. We should be hitching a ride on the coattails of an established grass roots movement too. Rename this campaign to something that tugs at heart strings and cuts deep into people's concerns. Don't call it what it is, call it what it will be. No matter how I try to share this on FB, it doesn't seem to work because the graphic doesn't say eradicate diabetes or cancer or alzheimer's with a picture of their grandmother or a picture of Julianne Moore from that recent movie Still Alice, or something.