Major Mouse Testing Program Hosts an AMA at /r/futurology Today
The researchers and advocates of the Major Mouse Testing Program will be answering your questions in an /r/futurology AMA ("Ask Me Anything") event today. The organization is presently raising funds via crowdfunding in order to run the first in a set of animal life span studies of senolytic drugs as a means to reduce the number of senescent cells in old tissues. The presence of such cells is one of the causes of aging, and a range of initiatives aimed at treatments are presently in the early stages of development. This is a still a very poorly funded area of research in comparison to its potential, however, which is why our continuing support is absolutely necessary if there is to be significant progress in the next few years:
The Major Mouse Testing Program (MMTP) is an ambitious project of the International Longevity Alliance (ILA), featuring an international team of scientists and advocates testing therapies against aging decline. This experiment is is lead by world class stem cell researcher Dr. Alexandra Stolzing and was inspired by our scientific advisor and colleague Dr. Aubrey de Grey.
The Major Mouse Testing Program is seeking to speed up scientific progress in the field of regenerative medicine and biogerontology. After ILA experts conducted an analysis of delays preventing the development of life extension technologies, it was shown that a serious problem was the lack of robust animal data for the potential of different compounds to promote health and extend maximum lifespan. Without this data promising interventions cannot enter clinical trials and become available to the general public. The MMTP is currently running a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to address this issue.
For the first experiment we are testing a new class of drugs known as senolytics, these drugs have been shown to help seek out and destroy toxic senescent cells that accumulate with age and improve various aspects of health. We wish to see if senolytics can increase maximum lifespan in addition to healthspan. We have big plans for the future with combination testing of senolytics, stem cells and more to help speed up scientific progress. So go ahead and ask us anything!
Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/4jgty0/mmtp_ama_senolytics_seek_and_destroy/
Thank you for those of you who joined us for our first AMA outing. We hope to have more exciting things to talk about once we have some research data to show you all.
Well done on having a live tracker on this website. It does look very professional.
I suspect there are a fair few molecules and interventions the SENS foundation and others would love to see tested in mice. Hopefully the crowdfunding well of goodwill can support these.