Ending Ageing through Gene Therapy [Archive] - The Project Avalon Community Forum

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Shadowself

19th October 2015, 15:17

Hi all!

Last January I started a thread regarding Memory and a particular protein called REST RE1-silencing transcription factor which for some unknown reason is being withheld from us as a cause through loss and a possible cure for various neurological disease. Hre is that thread in case you have not had a chance to see it.

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?78702-Memory-and-a-whole-lot-more-Neurological-Disorders-Cause-and-Effect

Well just recently I ran into an article where the media are vilifying a woman who took a step beyond what the bureaucracy would allow.

Apparently this CEO took the gene therapy herself for anti-aging.

Here is one such article:

A Tale of Do-It-Yourself Gene Therapy

Can aging be slowed by using gene therapy to make permanent changes to a person’s DNA?

One Seattle-area woman says she has tried exactly that. Her claim has entangled some high-profile American academics in a strange tale of do-it-yourself medicine that involves plane flights to Latin America, an L.A. film crew, and what’s purported to be the first attempt to use gene therapy to forestall normal aging.

Elizabeth Parrish, the 44-year-old CEO of a biotechnology startup called BioViva, says she underwent a gene therapy at an undisclosed location overseas last month, a first step in what she says is a plan to develop treatments for ravages of old age like Alzheimer’s and muscle loss. “I am patient zero,” she declared during a Q&A on the website Reddit on Sunday. “I have aging as a disease.”

Since last week, MIT Technology Review has attempted to independently verify the accuracy of Parrish’s claims, particularly how she obtained the genetic therapy. While many key details could not be confirmed, people involved with her company said the medical procedure took place September 15 in Colombia.

The experiment seems likely to be remembered as either a new low in medical quackery or, perhaps, the unlikely start of an era in which people receive genetic modifications not just to treat disease, but to reverse aging. It also raises ethical questions about how quickly such treatments should be tested in people and whether they ought to be developed outside the scrutiny of regulators. The field of anti-aging research is known for attracting a mix of serious scientists, vitamin entrepreneurs, futurists, and cranks peddling various paths to immortality, including brain freezing.

Rest of the article here: http://www.technologyreview.com/news/542371/a-tale-of-do-it-yourself-gene-therapy/

So I decided to check this CEO out and found a video she recently did regarding the press on this and found it quite interesting and have decided to share it here for your reviews...

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Now a little insight into Gene Therapy and some of the outcomes here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_therapy

From what I've studied on the subject I'm certain they have the key already to reverse such disease and certainly don't want this kind of thing getting out to the general public. Which is probably why they are giving this woman such a hard time. God forbid we should end suffering of old age eh?

One more video where she explains her company and I actually happen to like her views on Big Pharma and the FDA

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TargeT

19th October 2015, 15:22

Carmody

19th October 2015, 19:13

I know of a company that is making the commercial hardware to sell bulk containers of your own stem cells back to you.

Not the research hardware but the commercial hardware. Ie bulk commercial production of bulk levels of individuated personal DNA stem cells. stem cells of a specific nature, of whatever origin point and type you desire.

They are, from what I can tell, in the process of building a earthen 'fort' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_fort) around their physical location, at this time.

Carmody

19th October 2015, 19:19

Gene and hormone therapy.

the first person to live to 1000 has already been born. (http://motherboard.vice.com/read/has-the-first-person-to-achieve-immortality-already-been-born)

we are quadrupling mice live spans with gene therapy....

its a wonderful time to be alive.

We are also in the danger zone, the one where the sociopaths that live among us fret to the point of feeling like they are dying and the world is ending, if they don't hold power and control over the rest of us.

A position and point where they will strike out with just about anything, in order to roll back emergent human freedom. Their history is one of extermination, wholesale in nature, millions killed, butchery, all manner of extreme horrors.

Thus the need to be on guard and being ready for direct involvement and preventative action.... is greater than it has ever been in all of human history.

http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/2AF5/production/_85279901_snake_vs_shark_ouch.jpg

Fanna

19th October 2015, 20:24

This is super nerdy, but I was playing Mass Effect recently and ran across the gene therapy history they threw in. Kinda fun fiction to imagine.

In the years before first contact, human genetic research was quite advanced, even allowing for the "uplifting" of animal species that lingered uneasily on the borders of sapience.

However, after making first contact with the turians and joining the Citadel, there were concerns that such modifications might lead to Earth's unique biodiversity being lost, so the Alliance Parliament passed the Sudham-Wolcott Genetic Heritage Act in 2161, leading to strict controls on genetic modification. As current law stands, modification of natural abilities is legal, but acquisition of new ones is not. For example, using gene therapy to increase muscle mass is legal, but adding the ability to digest cellulose is not.

Over time, human genetic research had developed to such an extent that basic genetic flaws could be corrected, either in utero or shortly after birth. For example, Ashley Williams received gene therapy for her maternal disposition to nearsightedness. Most human governments offer free assessment and correction therapies to its citizens, which has nearly eliminated genetic diseases from the human gene pool. All Alliance soldiers receive gene therapy -- provided by MarsGene -- upon enrolling, though most genetic therapies take years to come into their full effect.

The Citadel's own genetic restrictions allow for the creation of life for scientific or medical reasons, but forbid the creation of new sapient species. A few products have slipped past the regulations, most notably Sirta Foundation's medi-gel.

Fanna

28th October 2015, 04:58

reviving this thread that I fear I killed:

The avalon thread regarding gene modification in dogs (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?86154-First-Gene-Edited-Dogs-Reported-in-China) is fascinating and related.

Gene therapy techniques could induce these types of results with any gene modifications science is willing to make. I may be just bananas, but I do believe we are already capable of and do use gene therapy for such basic perfections of the genome-- AND that alterations beyond that are no condoned.

Shadowself

1st November 2015, 15:11

TargeT

1st November 2015, 16:21

You did not kill the thread. It's just a subject few find interest in. May I ask where you got this information from?

From a science fiction video game.

Unfortunately there's not much follow on data that can be added to this discussion, human gene therapy is quasi taboo and people aren't freely releasing information like they are on other topics.... I'd say society killed the thread :P

Shadowself

3rd November 2015, 15:04

Thanks for that TargeT....not a huge fan of video games here and I was totally perplexed by that! LOL

But to your comment about human gene therapy being quasi taboo and people aren't freely releasing information like they are on other topics I have to say there is a wealth of information on the subject. What IS taboo is the research being done behind 4 to 5 closed doors which is what we seriously need to be concerned about.

Why 4 to 5 closed doors? Do they do that? Absolutely they do! I just read an article which let me to that where they are working to modify a mosquito...behind 4 doors so it doesn't escape and get loose on the general world population.

It's become so easy to do and so inexpensive you can design and modify anything with a gene in no time flat.

The problem is nobody truly understands the subject and it's implications. That would often include the very scientists that research this subject.

Did you know the most powerful DNA editing technology we know was found by accident? They weren't looking for a world-transforming DNA editing tool. But they found it non the less. They found it and it's a game changer. The above article on the girl looking for ways to end aging through Gene therapy is but one sole path in this.

It's being discussed and talked about in a big way. What goes on behind those 4 to 5 closed doors in now uncontrollable and easy as pie.

In my first post I referenced a thread I did on a "silencing transcription RE1"...listed as Genetic Repose which indeed is a factor that shuts off the greater neuron growth in vetro until birth is achieved. As you get older mutations happen and thus the aging brain and a variety of other factors behind it.

So now they have a way to mutate the mutations of this very nature. The kids have now found the matches to light a fire that may have great long term effects and there are no boundaries to it.

gene editing (adding, disrupting or changing the sequence of specific genes) and gene regulation in species throughout the tree of life...By delivering a protein and appropriate guide RNAs into a cell, the organism's genome can be relatively cheaply cut at any desired location.

What is that protein? A game changer! Used to edit and sequence genes. It has becoming a prominent tool in the field of genome editing.

Cas9 is the protein.

From an article: "The ability to rewrite life's code is so transformative that it might be harder to say what it can't do than what it could".

In this article they talk about the tool and Cas9. It's a game changer alright!

We're on the cusp of a revolution that will change the world as much as computers did

The latest gene-editing technology, known as CRISPR, can find and replace sections of DNA, turning genes on or off, removing harmful mutations, and potentially inserting helpful genetic mutations that could make people super-athletes or make them immune to certain diseases....

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-crispr-and-genetic-editing-will-change-the-world-2015-9

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cas9

From this original article:

http://www.techinsider.io/how-crispr-and-genetic-editing-will-change-the-world-2015-9

Then there is this very powerful article:

http://www.wired.com/2015/07/crispr-dna-editing-2/

So to end...it's out on the table in front of everybody's eyes. It's what goes on behind those four to five doors that we need to be concerned with. The thought also occurred to me if we ourselves are genetically modified from the beginning...Only a thought here...and that RE1 protein I posted about almost a year ago and it were to be changed...what would the implications be for our species? No neuron stop growth after birth?

...something to highly consider. You can unlock and lock DNA as you please behind those 4 to 5 doors no?

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Jennifer Doudna: We can now edit our DNA. But let's do it wisely

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9CdeLJCFRw

So nobody is really paying attention to this thread but they probably should and will eventually come face to face with the implications very soon. We've already come head to head with GMO foods....what is down the pike so to speak?

TargeT

3rd November 2015, 16:12

I see little to fear and MUCH to look forward to here.

Degenerative inheritable disease is no longer a life term sentence; this will change the world in so many great ways.

Shadowself

3rd November 2015, 16:25

I see little to fear and MUCH to look forward to here.

Degenerative inheritable disease is no longer a life term sentence; this will change the world in so many great ways.

Indeed that may be....

31702

However as history has shown in the wrong hands bio engineering can also deplete a species as described in the last link I gave. Did you read it?

What about unintended change?

31703

Now I'm not a big fan of bats...but this is only one small example that is actually in the works behind the closed 4 doors I just posted about.

Here: http://www.wired.com/2015/07/crispr-dna-editing-2/

The technique is revolutionary, and like all revolutions, it's perilous. Crispr goes well beyond anything the Asilomar conference discussed. It could at last allow genetics researchers to conjure everything anyone has ever worried they would—designer babies, invasive mutants, species-specific bioweapons, and a dozen other apocalyptic sci-fi tropes. It brings with it all-new rules for the practice of research in the life sciences. But no one knows what the rules are—or who will be the first to break them.

All over this forum people are discussing: TPTB, The Cabal, or whatever you want to call "them" these days....don't you think they would be like kids in a candy store with this kind of tech? And what does that say for OUR future? Could we end up as "unintended or intended consequence"?

In the last video I posted the lady that discovered this tech is even concerned about such consequence.

Just a little genetic modified food for thought.

Flash

3rd November 2015, 16:45

I so think that we could and should live until 150-200 years old, in order to mature a bit and bring our know how developed through time for the betterment of humanity (we know a lot as we age, wisdome for some does come with age, but are not in the physical shape to do tranformative work towards society betterment).

However, there is about 100% chances that these new thérapies are already on for the sociopaths at the top of the hierarchy plus the cloning and maybe even transference of soul, so that those psycho are made basically eternal. If those thérapies are out, they have been implememented in black projects for a long time. Has it changed anything for the crowd? Has it been good for all of humanity and for the planet?

The problem is really the psychopaths who will already have all the access, and their minions (the all very old and healthy Kissinger and alike) who are benefitting from the less developed gene thérapies, and the minions of the minions who will have the remaining. And believe me, the "people" will have just the ill of it, as it happened with GMO food. (the rich do not eat GMO food, they grow their own and raise their own pig etc if carnivorous).

I am for the advancement to help, and against it at the same time because of those who are putting the money into the research.

Shadowself

3rd November 2015, 16:50

Flash

3rd November 2015, 17:04

Absolutely Flash...I agree and I personally think our ability to live that long was shut off intentionally. But that is my opinion.

What is to be taken note of is this:

31704

And that is a game changer which is why she, the discover of this tech is concerned.

And rightly so, we should all be concerned. Betterment is possible, but crippling us as a mass of individual still further is possible too. What if it is decided to genetically cripple all the creative thinkers (in USSR they were either killed or sent to Gulag, which is basically the same). Crippling would be for générations down (this is certainly as bad as generational spells).

In fact, we may be the result of some old Atlantean crippling, still dealing with it (I do think that a good 35% of the population is not mentally fit, for X number of reasons - GMO, pesticides poisoniing, genetic mishaps, inner breeding, and manipulations of the genes, all having transgenerationanl impact).

Now we may end up with the genetically have, and the genetically have not, based on the whims of tyrants, but insuring even the have are held on a leash not to fall in the have not category.

TargeT

3rd November 2015, 17:54

What about unintended change?

31703

Now I'm not a big fan of bats...but this is only one small example that is actually in the works behind the closed 4 doors I just posted about.

Just a little genetic modified food for thought.

I'm a speciesist.. Malaria has killed half of everyone that has EVER died, bat numbers may decline but mosquitoes are already pretty good at avoiding them and bats eat a lot of other flying insects (the ones that are primarily flying insect eaters).. as prey populations decline so do predator populations.

I love the work they are doing with mosquitoes, did you read what they are actually doing?

...other researchers are already using other methods to modify mosquitoes to resist the Plasmodium parasite that causes malaria and to be less fertile, reducing their numbers in the wild.

Since I'm on Team People, I'll gladly risk a bit of unintended consequences with a method that could stop or reduce the #1 killer in the world (aside from old age, which I'm totally for getting rid of as well, if desired)

This isn't Frankenstein we are talking about, and it's not a mad scientist behind the controls (well, not yet...?)

Shadowself

3rd November 2015, 18:06

This isn't Frankenstein we are talking about, and it's not a mad scientist behind the controls (well, not yet...?)

Bio weapon is what we are talking about. Frankenstein is a sci fi horror film... and this would make a Frankenstein monster look like a bunny rabbit and prey to the likes of such a weapon.

Yes I read it and I agree killing disease is the primary goal and a worthy one.

But that is not the point and all the semantics in the world is not going to change that.

Did you read the last paragraph?

In an odd reversal, it’s the scientists who are showing more fear than the civilians. When I ask Church for his most nightmarish Crispr scenario, he mutters something about weapons and then stops short. He says he hopes to take the specifics of the idea, whatever it is, to his grave. But thousands of other scientists are working on Crispr. Not all of them will be as cautious. “You can’t stop science from progressing,” Jinek says. “Science is what it is.” He’s right. Science gives people power. And power is unpredictable.

Adding the two paragraphs above that one:

Even if scientists never try to design a baby, the worries those Asilomar attendees had four decades ago now seem even more prescient. The world has changed. “Genome editing started with just a few big labs putting in lots of effort, trying something 1,000 times for one or two successes,” says Hank Greely, a bioethicist at Stanford. “Now it’s something that someone with a BS and a couple thousand dollars’ worth of equipment can do. What was impractical is now almost everyday. That’s a big deal.”

In 1975 no one was asking whether a genetically modified vegetable should be welcome in the produce aisle. No one was able to test the genes of an unborn baby, or sequence them all. Today swarms of investors are racing to bring genetically engineered creations to market. The idea of Crispr slides almost frictionlessly into modern culture.

And it not simply about creating a Bio weapon....it about creating their own personal vaccine and defense against such a weapon as needed.

http://www.britannica.com/technology/biological-weapon

TargeT

3rd November 2015, 18:53

we already have 3d printers + the internet + youtube... I could build a low grade A bomb, so could many people.. but only a few ever actually do anything close to it ("nuclear boyscout" (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2506549/Uh-oh-Radioactive-Boy-Scout-built-nuclear-reactor-Detroit-shed-sparking-evacuation-40-000-wants-invent-lightbulb-lasts-100-years.html) for example) People can now easily make machine guns at home; yet they don't.

a Bio weapon is not so easy to make as you think.. genetically modifying an organism is really cool, but you're still limited by the potential of nature (of the material you are working with) and it's availability, your ability to contain it (no self-contamination) etc etc etc...

This tech is cool because it lets us do one thing in a much faster way, but it didn't touch all the other moving parts.

I appreciate your survivalist instinct, but there really is nothing to fear here, not with out a lot more advancements.

TargeT

2nd December 2015, 15:16

Those Gene splicing busy beavers haven't stopped yet; this is a pretty significant advancement

MIT, Broad scientists overcome key CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing hurdle
Team re-engineers system to dramatically cut down on editing errors; improvements advance future human applications.
http://news.mit.edu/sites/mit.edu.newsoffice/files/styles/news_article_image_top_slideshow/public/images/2015/MIT-Crispr_0.jpg?itok=eViaIxrG
The following is adapted from a press release issued today by the Broad Institute.

Researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT have engineered changes to the revolutionary CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing system that significantly cut down on “off-target” editing errors. The refined technique addresses one of the major technical issues in the use of genome editing.

The CRISPR-Cas9 system works by making a precisely targeted modification in a cell's DNA. The protein Cas9 alters the DNA at a location that is specified by a short RNA whose sequence matches that of the target site. While Cas9 is known to be highly efficient at cutting its target site, a major drawback of the system has been that, once inside a cell, it can bind to and cut additional sites that are not targeted. This has the potential to produce undesired edits that can alter gene expression or knock a gene out entirely, which might lead to the development of cancer or other problems.

In a paper published today in Science, Feng Zhang and his colleagues report that changing three of the approximately 1,400 amino acids that make up the Cas9 enzyme from S. pyogenes dramatically reduced “off-target editing” to undetectable levels in the specific cases examined. Zhang is the W.M. Keck Career Development Professor in Biomedical Engineering in MIT’s departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Biological Engineering, and a member of both the Broad Institute and McGovern Institute.

Zhang and his colleagues used knowledge about the structure of the Cas9 protein to decrease off-target cutting. DNA, which is negatively charged, binds to a groove in the Cas9 protein that is positively charged. Knowing the structure, the scientists were able to predict that replacing some of the positively charged amino acids with neutral ones would decrease the binding of “off target” sequences much more than “on target” sequences.

After experimenting with various possible changes, Zhang’s team found that mutations in three amino acids dramatically reduced “off-target” cuts. For the guide RNAs tested, “off-target” cutting was so low as to be undetectable.

The newly-engineered enzyme, which the team calls “enhanced” S. pyogenes Cas9, or eSpCas9, will be useful for genome editing applications that require a high level of specificity. The Zhang Lab is immediately making the eSpCas9 enzyme available for researchers worldwide. The team believes the same charge-changing approach will work with other recently described RNA-guided DNA targeting enzymes, including Cpf1, C2C1, and C2C3, which Zhang and his collaborators reported on earlier this year.

The prospect of rapid and efficient genome editing raises many ethical and societal concerns, says Zhang, who is speaking this morning at the International Summit on Gene Editing in Washington. “Many of the safety concerns are related to off-target effects,” he says. “We hope the development of eSpCas9 will help address some of those concerns, but we certainly don’t see this as a magic bullet. The field is advancing at a rapid pace, and there is still a lot to learn before we can consider applying this technology for clinical use.”
http://news.mit.edu/2015/overcome-crispr-cas9-genome-editing-hurdle-1201

http://news.mit.edu/2015/overcome-crispr-cas9-genome-editing-hurdle-1201