Open longevity

Open Longevity School in Montenegro

Alexandra Alekseeva, XX2 century

In early April, Montenegro hosted the Open Longevity School, which lasted ten days and was organized with the support of the XX2 CENTURY website and the Dukley European art community. The main topic of this event was the question of how to become a long-lived person with the help of existing anti-aging techniques. Among the participants were people with a variety of "backgrounds", so the school gave lectures aimed at students with training in biology and medicine, and designed for those who last heard about biology in the eleventh grade. In addition, the audience was offered a diet and a set of physical exercises. According to the lecturers, these measures can be effective in the field of life extension. Mikhail Batin, the organizer, hopes that the school will be the beginning of a long-term cooperation of people interested in the topic of aging.

One of the first speakers was Corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexey Moskalev. Among other things, he told why aging should be recognized as a disease. Some diseases were not considered such in the past, for example, osteoporosis was considered an element of "normal aging" (later the status of the disease was assigned to it). The meaning put into the concept of disease changes over time, the elements of "normal aging" are increasingly singled out as independent diseases. Alexey noticed that fighting the effects of aging (Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis, etc.) is not enough, we still need to work with the causes of aging. The lecturer suggested a way of such work – a diet that can change the indicators of biomarkers of aging. Alexey used an interesting tactic to combat the falling asleep of the audience – every five slides he inserted a picture with a list of food containing elements that affect the markers of aging. At this time, the listeners woke up and photographed the slide – of course, to remember about it the next time they find themselves in the supermarket.

Alexander Kolyada, a researcher at the Epigenetics Laboratory of the Institute of Gerontology of NAMNU, spoke about the markers of aging and indicators of biological age. Among the latter are the end products of glycation, telomere length, mTOR activity, DNA methylation, accumulation of genetic mutations and much more. Biological age is better than passport age, it can predict the amount of time a person has left to live. In order to find out the "objectively remaining" time, you need to pass a set of tests to determine the biological age. The lecturer provided a set of such tests: (1) stress markers – cortisol, cortisol/DHEA ratio, cognitive tests (MMSE), DEXA studies (sarcopenia, osteoporosis), infection panels (CMV, EB, H. Pylori), microbiome analysis. In order to assimilate the material, a high degree of preparation was needed, which not everyone had.

The lecture by Anastasia Shubina, a graduate of the Faculty of Biology of St. Petersburg State University, was about gene therapy of aging. The lecturer began by refuting the stereotype that the use of gene therapy in humans is prohibited. As of 2017, 2409 clinical trials of this technology have been launched, four gene therapy drugs have been approved for sale - gendicin, oncorin (both for the treatment of patients with a tumor containing a mutation in the p53 gene – often head or neck cancer), gliber (for the treatment of lipoprotein lipase deficiency), neovasculgen (for the treatment of lower limb ischemia). Anastasia spoke in detail about the mechanism of gene therapy using the example of retroviral injection. At the first stage, its RNA is removed from the virus and RNA is inserted, which, during reverse transcription, will give the desired DNA. After injection, the virus enters the cells, and DNA is read from the RNA. Then this DNA is embedded in the genome of the cell, while in order to direct the DNA to the right place on the right chromosome, for example, a zinc finger nuclease can be added to the virus, but there are other methods of genome editing, for example CRISPR/Cas9. Some viruses infect only a section of tissue, while others infect all cells. Thus, it is possible to genetically modify either a part of the body or the whole body. Gene therapy can fight, as with many other diseases, aging. The most well–known gene therapy for aging is telomerase gene modification (TERT), however, there are other ways to influence gene therapy on aging, for example, switching off the genes of the mTOR pathway.

According to Alexey Turchin, an expert on existential risks who spoke at the school, it is not enough to think about life extension only in medical terms. Even if we prolong our lives for a significant period, there is a possibility that we will live to see a global catastrophe and die as a result of nuclear war, the use of chemical weapons, or be destroyed by artificial intelligence. Such a prospect promises little pleasure, therefore, in addition to taking care of their own health, in order to ensure personal longevity, everyone needs to think about how to prevent a global catastrophe in the future. Alexey focused on the danger that a strong artificial intelligence (AI) can pose. In order to avoid possible AI rivalry with humans, it is necessary to develop an AI that would be embedded in the human brain, would be one with consciousness. Immortality in this case will be the eternal existence of human consciousness in the computer (or in what will replace the computer). This option will come in handy if physical immortality turns out to be unattainable. All this may seem like a fantasy that has nothing to do with reality, but it's not: Elon Musk recently announced the launch of the Neurolink project, which aims to merge AI with the human brain.

On the last day, Igor Artyukhov, Director of Science at the Institute of Aging Biology, spoke. From the lectures, the listeners learned what cryonics is, and what methods are now used to preserve the body after death so that it does not change its structure for a long time. Igor started with the fact that there are different interpretations of the concept of "death": you can record death either after stopping the heartbeat, or after stopping breathing, or after completing the electrical activity of the brain. Freezing is used to preserve the body after death is fixed (in the hope that "resurrecting" technologies will be invented in the future). However, low temperatures can damage the molecular structure of the cell, as the water present in it will form crystals when frozen and tear the cell membrane. To avoid crystallization, cryoprotectors are used – glycerin, alcohol, polyethylene glycol and other substances. In addition to cryoprotectors, Igor spoke about other protective agents – vitrifying mixtures. The essence of vitrification is that due to the presence of such mixtures in the body, water turns into a glassy state when frozen. Then the lecturer went on to describe the possible types of "revival" and their properties important for cryonics. So, if we hope for the emergence of a strong artificial intelligence that will allow us to upload consciousness into a computer, it makes sense to save only the brain. If people can revive a person in his body, then saving only the brain loses its meaning. Interestingly, in addition to the imperfection of technology, the revival of the dead is also hindered by legal and psychological unresolved issues, about which you can read here.

An interesting point was the creative component of the school. In the afternoon, after the lectures, brainstorming sessions were held to find interesting ideas to promote non-aging. After discussion, four of the thirty proposed topics were selected. The participants, divided into four groups, spent two days preparing presentations of these topics. Among the issues discussed was, for example, the following: "is it possible to attract the clergy to finance projects on non-aging". A group of participants outlined possible strategies for action in this area. The key to their position was the concept of a good deed. The fight against aging is, among other things, the fight against diseases associated with old age, which are associated with pain and suffering. The development of life extension technologies (which includes the fight against cancer, heart disease, etc.) is a reduction of pain and suffering, that is, a "good deed", and therefore its promotion should be promoted. Another question is why involve the clergy in the promotion of non–aging. It's simple – the church (in principle, any one, but the participants focused on the Catholic one) can make investments in longevity projects. Such investments will be beneficial to the church, as it will be able, on the one hand, to build an image of an organization that does not hinder progress, and on the other hand, does not contradict religious morality in its actions. Another topic that was discussed at the "brainstorming sessions" is how a personal example can serve to develop research in the field of longevity. Two aspects were mentioned during the discussion – the influence of a personal example on people who are in the inner circle of communication, and notifying a wide range of people using a blog. By telling friends and acquaintances about your own achievements in the field of longevity, you can reach a part of the audience that is not represented on the Internet (and among such people there may be potential investors). By telling about your successes in a blog (which must first be "promoted"), you can interest a wider audience in non-aging and use crowdfunding to finance research.

At the end of the school, Mikhail Batin organized a debate on the question "how to create a special institute that would deal with issues of non-aging." Several ideas appeared in the discussion. One of them is to create a distributed research community so that people who have access to laboratories, as well as those who experience non–aging techniques, have a convenient platform for communication and data analysis. The second idea is to create a "real" research institute where "serious" scientific research could be carried out, but the organizers do not have enough funds for this. In the discussion of the task of finding financing, a question arose about priorities, namely, what would be more effective at the moment, to develop small experiments or invest in finding investors to conduct large-scale research. This discussion did not lead to anything, since it is impossible to unequivocally answer the question which option will give a visible result faster without knowing the future in advance. However, after the discussion it became clear that it is necessary to develop both directions.

As part of the school, participants were offered a series of physical exercises and a special diet. Those who followed the proposed "prescriptions" to achieve longevity could try to track the change in biomarkers of aging before and after the period of "dietary nutrition" and physical exertion (charging). Some of the results of such personal observations can be found on the event page.

Summing up, among the advantages are a variety of people and topics, a flexible format that meets current needs and questions, a creative component (participation in debates, in research, in a round table). Among the disadvantages are the too long duration of the school (in the discussion they came to the conclusion that seven days is the optimal time), the ill–considered sequence of lectures (the introduction to genetics had to be put at the beginning so that complex explanations in other lectures would become clearer).

The next life extension school is announced for the end of April.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  25.04.2017