Eaten alive: the double-edged sword of autophagy

I can’t believe how many months I procrastinated in writing this blog post. Among deadlines and diaper changes, it just took me that much time to put my thoughts in order regarding a part of aging that I thought was crystal clear: aging leads to slow clearance therefore autophagy induction must always be a good…… Continue reading Eaten alive: the double-edged sword of autophagy

How to play with evolution in the lab to create longer-lived animals

I was a college student when I first stumbled upon the “Ending Aging” book by Dr. Aubrey de Grey. I read that book cover to cover but I never got highly enthusiastic about SENS since there were important details which didn’t make sense. The types of damage that humans incur as they age are excellently…… Continue reading How to play with evolution in the lab to create longer-lived animals

Why is the Greenland shark the longest living vertebrate?

When I wrote ‘The aging gap between species’, the longest living vertebrate was the bowhead whale at 211 years old. The latter still holds the record for the longest living mammal, but these days the vertebrate record is held by the Greenland shark at 392 years. Determining age in bony fish is done by counting…… Continue reading Why is the Greenland shark the longest living vertebrate?

Immunotherapy for senescent cell removal – lessons from human embryo development and other species

For a long time I had this simplistic view that senescent cells accumulate with age, contributing to many age-related degenerative diseases through the sterile inflammation and regeneration impairment they cause. I also thought their removal with the help of drugs is the only  possible solution to get rid of them. Destroying senescent cells shouldn’t be…… Continue reading Immunotherapy for senescent cell removal – lessons from human embryo development and other species