Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: biotech/medical

When one mentions the topic of “head transplantation” (or a related topic – the “brain transplant”), for most people, it remains a topic purely in the context and sphere of science fiction.

Yet most people are unaware of the following history:

In 1908, Nobel Prize winner Alexis Carrel, a French surgeon who had developed surgical methods to connect blood vessels in the context of organ transplantation, collaborated with the American Charles Claude Guthrie perform the first head grafts between dogs.

In 1954, Vladimir Demikhov, a Soviet surgeon who conducted important work to improve coronary bypass surgery, performed experiments in which he grafted a dog’s head and upper body, onto another dog; the effort was focused on how to provide blood supply to the donor head and upper body.

In 1965 American neurosurgeon Robert J. White did a series of experiments in which he attempted to graft the vascular system of isolated dog brains onto existing dogs monitoring brain activity with EEG and also monitored metabolism, and showed that he could maintain high levels of brain activity and metabolism by avoiding any break in the blood supply. In 1970 he did four experiments in which he cut the head off of a monkey and connected the blood vessels of another monkey head to it.

From 1970–1994, Paul A. Pietsch was a Professor in the School of Optometry and an Adjunct Professor of Anatomy at Indiana University, and conducted and published on a long series of “brain shuffling” / transplantation experiments in regenerative organisms between salamanders and frogs.

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From the COVID-19 vaccine to advances in machine learning, AI, improved W-Fi and 5G, and telemedicine, experts expect a move to “patient-centric” health next year.

COVID-19 accomplished what entrepreneurs, doctors, and activists couldn’t: Designing a healthcare system that works for patients instead of providers and health insurance companies.

The industry promised to be “patient-centered” for the last decade but only the harsh demands of COVID-19 have made this a reality. As Ian McCrae, CEO of Orion Health, described it, COVID-19 is ushering in the long-overdue transformation of the healthcare system and, finally, a move to “patient-centric” health.

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Andres de Tenyi.

Yuri Deigin, MBA is a serial biotech entrepreneur, longevity research evangelist and activist, and a cryonics advocate. He is an expert in drug development and venture investments in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. He is the CEO at Youthereum Genetics and the Vice President at Science for Life Extension Research Support Foundation.
http://youthereum.ca/

Yuri has a track record of not only raising over $20 million for his previous ventures but also initiating and overseeing 4 clinical trials and several preclinical studies, including studies in transgenic mice.

At Youthereum Genetics, Yuri is currently leading a project dedicated to developing an epigenetic rejuvenation gene therapy, as intermittent epigenetic partial reprogramming demonstrated great experimental results in mice: it extended their lifespan by up to 50%.

His life goal is to do everything possible to minimize human suffering from various diseases, especially terminal age-related diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, and cardiovascular disease and to help humanity eradicate them. As an activist, blogger, and speaker, he is conveying the magnitude of human suffering these diseases cause, as they take over 100,000 lives each day. As a biotech entrepreneur, Yuri is doing his modest part by putting together projects that could yield such therapies, splitting his time between Toronto and Moscow.

He believes that one day humanity will cure all such diseases, and he wants to do whatever he can to hasten that day.

Since 2013, Yuri also serves as the Vice President of the nonprofit Foundation, Science for Life Extension, whose goal is the popularization of the fight against age-related diseases. To further this cause, Yuri frequently blogs, speaks, writes op-ed pieces, and participates in various TV and radio shows. At the Science for Life Extension Foundation, Yuri is helping the Foundation create and implement social change strategies to create public awareness that aging is a curable disease. He is also working on initiating intergovernmental dialog and public hearings about including aging in WHO’s ICD-11.

Previously, Yuri was the COO and Managing Director at Pharma Bio in Moscow for almost 7 years. From 2015 to 2017, Yuri was the Vice President of Business Development at Manus Pharmaceuticals in Toronto, Canada where he worked on raising funding and forming strategic partnerships to develop breakthrough peptide compounds aimed at preventing Alzheimer’s disease. Before that, he was the VP of Business Development at Peptos Pharma in Moscow.

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I just read an incredible post about Transhumanism by Francesco Neo Amati, CM of Transhumanism: The Future of Humanity.

What an excellent representation of how pragmatic and collaborative our community can be. People like Francesco Neo Amati are the reason why I call myself a Transhumanist…

“Community Announcement:

The following will address the purpose of our community as outlined in the Pinned Post and to dispel common misconceptions of Transhumanism by clarifying what it is and what it isn’t.

I have no desire in being a ‘leader’ in the Transhumanism community. I merely hope to be and remain a credible educator/resource, passionate advocate, and a voice of reason for the movement.

ICYDK:

I’m the founder and CM of our community. I started it in 2014 after being interested in Transhumanism since 2010, which complemented my passion for the philosophy of Self-Actualization/Transcendence (i.e. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Bruce Lee’s Self-Actualization, Nietzsche’s Ubermensch, Plato’s Realm of Forms, Aristotle’s Metaphysics on Being/Becoming, Emerson’s Transcendentalism, etc.).

I have my BA in Philosophy with a minor in Psychology. I was inspired by Deus Ex: Human Revolution, my favorite game of all-time, to do a presentation on the Philosophy of Transhumanism in my Philosophy of Science class in 2011. I’ve also written articles covering Transhumanism for Gray Scott’s archived techno-philosophical site, Serious Wonder:

https://seriouswonder.com/author/francescoamati/

My intention and motivation for creating this community was and still is to have a place, like an extension of my philosophy class, where people of all different backgrounds and beliefs (atheists, agnostics, religious, spiritual, etc.) could come together to learn, grow, and discuss (through civilized communication and intelligent discourse) the philosophy of Transhumanism, address its challenges and concerns, share the latest advancements in AI and tech, and to ultimately represent an advanced community who, despite our differences, share a common interest and goal in improving the human condition.

We’ve grown to 15+ thousand members, making us the second largest Transhumanism community on Facebook behind Scientific Transhumanism’s 19+ k. While that may seem like a noteworthy accomplishment for our community, those numbers actually reflect a general lack of mainstream appeal, education, exposure, and support for the movement.

According to the Kardashev scale, we’re still a type 0 civilization. We have a long way to go, but a paradigm shift in consciousness, awareness and perspective, similarly to what astronauts have reported to experience in space (Overview Effect), on a global scale can pave way for Transhumanism. Just look at what The Queen’s Gambit phenomenon accomplished with the surge in popularity of Chess (image is attached to this post). Now imagine something coming along that has that kind of universal impact and influence, but for Transhumanism. It’s not a matter of if, but when.

However, Transhumanism isn’t going to fulfill its purpose or go anywhere it intends to go if its core philosophy and goals aren’t emphasized or understood. It can’t remain a niche and secular ‘club’.

Its been ‘hijacked’ by several ‘leaders’ and parties, misconstrued and misrepresented to push and support ulterior agendas, narratives, biases and ideologies. What is even more off-putting is the conservativism that is still normal amongst so-called Transhumanists. There’s prejudice towards feminists, lgbtq, namely transgender people, racism, etc. It’s a truly disturbing trend that needs to be removed for the better of our movement, humanity, and the world.

Furthermore, Transhumanism isn’t intrinsically religious, but it’s also not anti-religion or exclusive to atheists, despite common backlash, condemnation, and rhetoric from the latter. Extremists come in many forms. I’m not here to defend or support any of them, regardless of their convictions.

Make no mistake, we’re not here to endorse or proselytize any religion, nor do we care what you believe or practice, as long as none of it is a threat to anyone in our community and doesn’t violate our rules.

That being said, a Transhumanist can also be religious as long as their views don’t prevent the core stance of Transhumanism. Are a doctor’s credibility, skills, or ability to care for patients contingent upon their political views or religious beliefs? No. The same applies in this circumstance and in our community.

On the other hand, if their religious views clash with Transhumanism, how severe is the conflict? Are they disruptive, are they threatening, are they trying to convert? If the answer to these are no, I see little issue with creating a welcoming place for religious and non-religious alike, just like a classroom or workplace. The majority of the world is religious in one way or another. Will we dismiss all of them over the fact they have faith? If some or all religions cease to exist one day, it won’t be because Transhumanism, but because they didn’t adapt/evolve the way Buddhism is equipped to (i.e. Spiritual Atheists/Transhumanists like Sam Harris) or no longer served a logical or fulfilling purpose to an advanced civilization.

If the goal is to remove dogmatic thinking, is the best approach to really attack and belittle them? I don’t think so. We need to be better than the most warm religious people we have ever met. We need to reverse the role and show them what we stand for as free-thinkers, what is the most logical and progressive for humanity, by being the example and collaborating, not by mere discourse, force, or alienation.

The legitimate threats to Transhumanism are not necessarily from religious faith or the idea/worship of a God. They’re from religious/cultural/social extremists/ignorance, anti-science, a lack of compassion and empathetic intelligence (EQ), antiquated politics, and an unsustainable economic system that inhibit its endeavors and progress, and pose a threat to humanity and the world. In addition, monkeys in machines, cyborgs, and terminators aren’t what we’re striving for from Transhumanism, either.

The only prerequisites to being a Transhumanist is to support its ambitions to improve the human condition, environment, education, economy, automation, life styles, etc. through ethical science and technology, on and beyond Earth (i.e. Star Trek).

The most important changes and progress begin within each of us through self-awareness, reflection, and actualization. Buddhists achieve this through Buddhism, also known as ‘Enlightenment’, but it can also be attained through practicing mindfulness and meditation, such as Transcendental and Total Embodiment Meditation.

As Transhumanists, it’s not just about hacking our biology, augmentations and gadgets, indefinite life extension, or about only looking and feeling technologically advanced — it’s about ‘being’ advanced, which permeates through our actions, demeanor, communication, perspectives, compassion, wisdom and values.

It’s about overcoming the debilitating and detrimental aspects of ourselves; beyond bias, ego, and ignorance — being better, more optimized human beings — like Nietzsche’s Ubermensch, or from man to Superman.

It’s about knowing how to communicate and understand one another through logic and empathy; Maintaining composure, focus, and perspective — reflecting before reacting.

A reflection of an advanced civilization is one of a unified community that leads through guidance, collaboration, compassion and inspiration, emphasizing science, humanitarianism, and progress — our universal and common denominator as a species — rather than through control, competition, and indoctrination.

Failure to adhere to these fundamental principles will only continue to be a monumental disservice to Transhumanism, humanity, and the world.

Transform and transcend.

This is why we’re here.

Thank you.”

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Takeaways * Scientists have made progress growing human liver in the lab. * The challenge has been to direct stems cells to grow into a mature, functioning adult organ. * This study shows that stem cells can be programmed, using genetic engineering, to grow from immature cells into mature tissue. * When a tiny lab-grown liver was transplanted into mice with liver disease, it extended the lives of the sick animals.* * *Imagine if researchers could program stem cells, which have the potential to grow into all cell types in the body, so that they could generate an entire human organ. This would allow scientists to manufacture tissues for testing drugs and reduce the demand for transplant organs by having new ones grown directly from a patient’s cells. I’m a researcher working in this new field – called synthetic biology – focused on creating new biological parts and redesigning existing biological systems. In a new paper, my colleagues and I showed progress in one of the key challenges with lab-grown organs – figuring out the genes necessary to produce the variety of mature cells needed to construct a functioning liver. Induced pluripotent stem cells, a subgroup of stem cells, are capable of producing cells that can build entire organs in the human body. But they can do this job only if they receive the right quantity of growth signals at the right time from their environment. If this happens, they eventually give rise to different cell types that can assemble and mature in the form of human organs and tissues. The tissues researchers generate from pluripotent stem cells can provide a unique source for personalized medicine from transplantation to novel drug discovery. But unfortunately, synthetic tissues from stem cells are not always suitable for transplant or drug testing because they contain unwanted cells from other tissues, or lack the tissue maturity and a complete network of blood vessels necessary for bringing oxygen and nutrients needed to nurture an organ. That is why having a framework to assess whether these lab-grown cells and tissues are doing their job, and how to make them more like human organs, is critical. Inspired by this challenge, I was determined to establish a synthetic biology method to read and write, or program, tissue development. I am trying to do this using the genetic language of stem cells, similar to what is used by nature to form human organs. Tissues and organs made by genetic designsI am a researcher specializing in synthetic biology and biological engineering at the Pittsburgh Liver Research Center and McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, where the goals are to use engineering approaches to analyze and build novel biological systems and solve human health problems. My lab combines synthetic biology and regenerative medicine in a new field that strives to replace, regrow or repair diseased organs or tissues. I chose to focus on growing new human livers because this organ is vital for controlling most levels of chemicals – like proteins or sugar – in the blood. The liver also breaks down harmful chemicals and metabolizes many drugs in our body. But the liver tissue is also vulnerable and can be damaged and destroyed by many diseases, such as hepatitis or fatty liver disease. There is a shortage of donor organs, which limits liver transplantation. To make synthetic organs and tissues, scientists need to be able to control stem cells so that they can form into different types of cells, such as liver cells and blood vessel cells. The goal is to mature these stem cells into miniorgans, or organoids, containing blood vessels and the correct adult cell types that would be found in a natural organ. One way to orchestrate maturation of synthetic tissues is to determine the list of genes needed to induce a group of stem cells to grow, mature and evolve into a complete and functioning organ. To derive this list I worked with Patrick Cahan and Samira Kiani to first use computational analysis to identify genes involved in transforming a group of stem cells into a mature functioning liver. Then our team led by two of my students – Jeremy Velazquez and Ryan LeGraw – used genetic engineering to alter specific genes we had identified and used them to help build and mature human liver tissues from stem cells. The tissue is grown from a layer of genetically engineered stem cells in a petri dish. The function of genetic programs together with nutrients is to orchestrate formation of liver organoids over the course of 15 to 17 days. Liver in a dishI and my colleagues first compared the active genes in fetal liver organoids we had grown in the lab with those in adult human livers using a computational analysis to get a list of genes needed for driving fetal liver organoids to mature into adult organs. We then used genetic engineering to tweak genes – and the resulting proteins – that the stem cells needed to mature further toward an adult liver. In the course of about 17 days we generated tiny – several millimeters in width – but more mature liver tissues with a range of cells typically found in livers in the third trimester of human pregnancies. Like a mature human liver, these synthetic livers were able to store, synthesize and metabolize nutrients. Though our lab-grown livers were small, we are hopeful that we can scale them up in the future. While they share many similar features with adult livers, they aren’t perfect and our team still has work to do. For example, we still need to improve the capacity of the liver tissue to metabolize a variety of drugs. We also need to make it safer and more efficacious for eventual application in humans.[Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.]Our study demonstrates the ability of these lab livers to mature and develop a functional network of blood vessels in just two and a half weeks. We believe this approach can pave the path for the manufacture of other organs with vasculature via genetic programming. The liver organoids provide several key features of an adult human liver such as production of key blood proteins and regulation of bile – a chemical important for digestion of food. When we implanted the lab-grown liver tissues into mice suffering from liver disease, it increased the life span. We named our organoids “designer organoids,” as they are generated via a genetic design. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Mo Ebrahimkhani, University of Pittsburgh. Read more: * Brain organoids help neuroscientists understand brain development, but aren’t perfect matches for real brains * Why are scientists trying to manufacture organs in space?Mo Ebrahimkhani receives funding from National Institute of Health, University of Pittsburgh and Arizona Biomedical Research Council.

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This month, a collaboration between NASA and various research institutions pinpointed a “central biological hub” that controls health during space travel. The culprit is the cell’s energy factory, the mitochondria, which breaks down in function in a way eerily similar to aging. Like shutting down power and water in a city, disruptions to the mitochondria reverberate throughout the cells and organs, potentially leading to problems with sleeping, the immune system, and more in space. The results were [published in *Cell](https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)31461-6).*

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Microsoft Health-Tech Vision

Dr. James Weinstein, is Senior Vice President, Microsoft Healthcare, where he is in charge of leading strategy, innovation and health equity functions.

Prior to Microsoft, Dr. Weinstein was president and CEO of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, a $2.0 billion academic medical center in Northern New England, where he led the organization to adopt a population health model, including the transition from fee-for-service toward global payments.

Prior to becoming CEO, Dr. Weinstein served as president of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic and was director of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice (TDI), home of the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, which for decades has documented the ongoing variations in health care delivery across the United States.

Dr. Weinstein is a founding member and the inaugural executive director of the National High Value Healthcare Collaborative, along with Mayo Clinic, Intermountain Healthcare, The Dartmouth Institute, and Denver Health. The Collaborative is a partnership of health systems that has taken on the challenge of improving the quality of care while lowering costs on a national scale.

Dr. Weinstein is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and held the Peggy Y. Thomson Chair in the Evaluative Clinical Sciences at the Geisel School of Medicine while at Dartmouth; he’s a Senior Fellow, for the Healthcare Center and Clinical Professor Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a Clinical Professor at the Kellogg School of Business, Northwestern University.

Dr. Weinstein is a member of Special Medical Advisory Group for the national Veteran’s Administration. He serves on the Boards of Trustees for the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, the Intermountain Health System, and IMAGINECARE, a company he started while CEO to use remote sensing to manage patients outside the traditional brick-and-mortar medical system and serves on several other boards.

Throughout his career as a researcher and renowned spine surgeon, Dr. Weinstein has received more than $70 million in federal funding and published more than 325 peer-reviewed articles and continues as Editor in Chief, Spine. He also serves on the Board of Advanced Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI/BioFAB), a Department of Defense (DoD) program using stem cells and various bio-substrates to print artificial organs.

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If you want to live long enough to see a reversal of aging and everlasting youth, exercise should be at the core of your routine.

Here I look at ten amazing benefits that exercise brings to your body and mind, so if you haven’t already got a regime on the go, hopefully this will convince you to start now.

Have an amazing day 🙂

In Why We Should Exercise Regularly, I show ten great areas that exercise benefits the body and mind.
If you want tp live longer and healthier, and slow down aging then regular exercise should be your first thought, especially if you have a sedentary job and have to spend long hours sat down.

Studies referenced.
Weight control.
https://www.nature.com/articles/0803015
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1262363620301270

Muscles and bones.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11255140
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6279907/

Health conditions and disease.
https://www.nature.com/articles/nri3041

Brain health.
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00210.2011
https://www.pnas.org/content/108/7/3017?sid%3D82ba1542-3753-49b2-a1e0-2b16c0b8686b=
https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad091531

Mood.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brian_Pritschet/publication/236152470_A_comparison_of_post-exercise_mood_enhancement_across_common_exercise_distraction_activities/links/0046352f50ff51710e000000/A-comparison-of-post-exercise-mood-enhancement-across-common-exercise-distraction-activities.pdf.

Energy.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/335/6066/281.summary.

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