Maximum life extension: product and serve

Pimm as business would be a product or a service? Well, if there is one integrated process or technology, which can offer for his customer a complete continous regeneration treatment, then it is obviously a service. But behind this service there must be numerous products ready before the treatment: all the tissue engineered organs, tissues (liver, heart, muscle, kidney, lung, vasculature…), all the stem or progenitor cell types of differentiated cells (more than 200 type), and all the extracellular matrix environment (collagen, elastin, proteglycans…) which are needed for a complete regeneration of an adult human body.

So, on the service level, there would be doctors, nurses who will manage the regeneration treatment, and on the product level there would be biotechnologists, bioengineers who make the organs, tissues, cells, molecules.

image source

Mitochondria, the not so hidden superstars of current life sciences

If one thing is for sure, it is mitochondrion’s ascending career in late biology. Mitochondria are the power centers of the eukariotic cell and eventually tell the nucleus what to do next: die or live. Mitos do not exist stably as distinct, individual, autonomous organelles according to new results, but form a highly dynamic semi-tubular network.

Mitochondria are bacterium size, membrane-bound organelles in the eukaryotic cell and were descended from prokaryotic endosymbionts about two billion years ago.

Mitos are the main energy supplier, the power centers of the eukariotic cell, in the form of ATP, the vast majority of cellular Reactive Oxigen Species (ROS, oxidants), approximately 90% can be traced back to the mitochondria. The main apoptotic signals of programmed cell death come from there, so eventually mitochondria tell the cell (i.e. the nucleus) what to do next: die or live.

In the past decade a new concept of mitochondrial presence and spatial distribution in the host cell was articulated based on microscopy observation, which suggested the fusion and fission of different mitochondria: the mitochondrial network concept. Mitochondria form a highly dynamic semi-tubular network in the cell, the morphology of which is regulated by movements along the cytoskeleton and the balance of mitochondrial fusion and fission events. Recent developments identified some essential protein players in fusion and fission machinery of mitochondria in eukaryotic cells, like GTPases, Mfn1, Mfn2 in fusion and Drp1 in fragmentation. According to the new network mitochondrion concept, mitochondria do not exist stably as distinct, individual, autonomous organelles. Rather, mitochondria form a network within cells; their continous fusion and fission is a highly dynamic process, adapting to the role the mitochondrion actually has in the cell. Increasing results confirm the role of mitochondrial fission and fragmentation in most forms of apoptosis, even as a cause. This suggests that fragmented mitochondria are in a „bad“ condition, under oxidative stress. Conversely, for example fragmentation of mitochondria in hippocampal neurons seems to have a role in the proper function of neuronal protrusions. On the other hand, mitochondrial fusion is thought to have a role in the maintenance of correct mitochondrial function.

So if you ask a cell, what she intends to do, you’d better ask and take a look at her mitochondria first.

In regenerative medicine mitochondria’s role will be much more important as we become more and more familiar with their tricks. In my opinion a whole new and powerful subfield will arise in biomedicine, organellar therapy, which is subcellular (not cell transplantation) and supramolecular (not classical pharmacology).

Picture: (Human stem cell stained with Mitotracker Red, which specifically bind to mitochondria, visualized in a black-and-white retro style. You can see the mitochondrial structure of the cell, mitochondria in an elongated form. Author’s shot.)

3 hypothetic cost stages of continuous regeneration treatment

When talking about a maximum life extension therapy it is intuitively credible that the moral judgement concerning this treatment will also depend on the putative cost of the technology. To handle this situation clearly, it is worth differentiating between three different conditions.

First, when the expense of the treatment (let it be the cost of one complete regeneration of an adult human body, i.e. the regeneration of all body parts, organs and tissues) is so high that only the richest people can afford it and the state obviously cannot guarantee it.

Second, the treatment is quite expensive, yet it is accessible to the large part of the middle class, but the state again cannot guarantee it.

Third, the cost of the treatment is cheap enough that the state can guarantee it for its citizens.

Life extension as business will also depend largely on the cost of the technology.

Bush said no to ESCs, most Americans disagree: prepare for the next ride

from here: “Bush on Wednesday rejected the legislation that could have multiplied the federal money going into embryonic stem cell research. Most Americans disagree with the president, according to public opinion polls.”

Science and the need for therapy is stronger than the President. We shall see.

Senators: say yeeeeah, Bush: say yeeeeah to embryonic stem cells

From Wired News: The bill passed 63-37, four votes short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override Bush’s veto. California Gov. Schwarzenegger wrote to Bush, “Mr. President, I urge you not to make the first veto of your presidency one that turns America backwards on the path of scientific progress and limits the promise of medical miracles for generations to come.”

When the question is which scientist will be nominated for the Nobel Prize for the first isolation and in vitro maintenance of human embryonic stem cells, this whole vote drama sounds very weird.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific organization, urged the President to sign H.R. 810. by strangerfruit

U.S. embryonic stem cell vote today

The U.S. Senate will vote today on the so called Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, which will put aside President Bush’s ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The complete text of the H.R. 810 bill is here. Excess embryos, donated from in vitro fertilization clinics shall be eligible for use in any research conducted or supported by the Secretary. The financial background is an N.I.H. issue.

Now history can rewrite itself.

More Life: Pro-Tech campaign for life extension&regenerative medicine

The web will transform politics too: Campaigns Wikia was launched about two weeks ago by Wikipedia-founder Jimmy Wales and the Mission Statement took the form of An open letter to the blogosphere

Here is my idea: online-offline Pro-Tech campaign&happening for life extension&regenerative medicine&biotech which fits well for the participatory politics-driven spirit of Campaigns Wikia and the new and powerful web tools we have. New tools deserves new topics and issues.
Healthy Life Extension (LE) is out of those very rare issues, that could make people go to the streets and demonstrate for the first time that there are many people whose established desire is to live more and eliminate problems concerning aging through science, biotech and medicine. Many particular aims could be targeted in this area from research and health care to human rights too.
So imagine a free, geek performance for LE (more LIFE) when people, aiming high and thinking long term in every age group – old people very welcome -, researchers, coders, doctors, geeks, intellectuals, IT-entrepreneurs, businessmen… who want to live more, go and stand up for their human rights to live as long as they can to express their full human potential and stand up for life extension technologies, (embryonic) stem cell research, tissue engineering and human biotechnology in general. This would be interesting, non-violent. Hippie and hip. Not just -sometimes- boring conferences, gatherings, but lively, funny happenings which make LE aims and supporters really visible. The ideal offline place of this kind of performance would be the U.S., California the home of Proposition 71, or Miami, the Grey Zone.
More Life would be an international, intergenerational movement transcending existing political barriers, linking people together seeking the common denominator. Supporting healthy life extension is celebrating and confirming the value and dignity of human life. Live long enough to live more, than ever.
What better place than here, what better time than now?

If I would use the 2.0 lingo, I could say that the above case is when biotech 2.0 meets political 2.0. By biotech 2.0 here I mean the next, coming stage of medical BT, which has customized products and personalized services, like a continuous regeneration treatment, for healthy people too, and the users of this technology are aware and self-aware. Just like Ray Kurzweil.

Our life is the ultimate user generated content. More life, more content.

Pimm text published in a traditional book

The abridged version of my philosophy MA thesis about pimm was published in a traditional book, you can download it here under the title:

Partial immortalization and the philosophical problems of human biotechnology and regenerative medicine