RE: [DIYbio] Prospects of anti-aging research

> -----Original Message-----
> From: diybio@googlegroups.com [mailto:diybio@googlegroups.com] On
> Behalf Of Jace
> Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2012 5:09 PM
> To: diybio@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [DIYbio] Prospects of anti-aging research
>
> Something I myself am looking
> into is the prospect of greatly extending human lifespan and in
> essence, dramatically slowing and possibly ending biological aging.
> Though it is largely considered fringe science, there are promising
> frontiers being forged on the matter, led by British scientist Aubrey
> de Grey. I have seen others comment on this scarcely on the forums
> here, and am wondering if any of you are actively pursuing this area,
> whether it is by the gathering of information on the subject or any
> experiments you may have carried out? I realize how large a project
> this is, but as I stated above, this is just the type of group that
> through a communal effort, can make massive strides forward that most
> researchers have not even considered.

I've put this idea forward in the past (e.g. some of the blurb at
http://www.opencures.org); a fair amount of work that falls under the SENS
banner that could be done well by distributed groups of volunteers. E.g.
bacterial discovery for bioremediation, finding novel soil bacteria species
that can break down the components of lipofuscin and other harmful metabolic
byproducts.

I would note that intervening in the aging process is far from fringe
science nowadays. It's a core concern for many research groups, and well
accepted as a goal in the research community - though most of those involved
in such work are focused on what I see as comparatively ineffective lines of
research involving metabolic and epigenetic manipulation to slow
accumulation of cellular and molecular damage. These research programs will
produce far more knowledge than actual benefit to patients, as measured in
years of health and life, and the end results of their work will prove
largely ineffective for old people.

The focus on repair of damage by de Grey and others is the way to go.

The DIYbio community is not at the present time involved in work on aging in
any meaningful way so far as I can tell, and some folk are actively hostile
to the idea - which mirrors the community at large in that respect, sadly.
One might argue that it's still way too early for the community to be doing
much other than tech demos, building incubators like Biocurious, and working
on lower cost basic device implementations needed for the next stage (e.g.
openpcr.org or any one a thousand other lines of development that fall into
the Kickstarter range of funding, all of which lower the barrier to entry
for the hobbyists who will later grow to become more than hobbyists). But
the future of medicine and medical development clearly involves a breakdown
of the priesthood and involvement of a far broader networked community of
varying levels of skill and for-profit inclinations, akin to wide
distribution presently in place for fields as varied as astronomy and
software development. Some people don't like that and don't want to see a
world of medicine that falls outside the heavy regulation that characterizes
today's field, but it is what it is. The way in which DIYbio finds its place
in that scheme of things is for people to come and do the work, talk about
it, and attract other folk to the fold.

Reason

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