The London Longevity Newsletter — Issue 07

Welcome to Issue 07 of the London Longevity Newsletter 🗞️

NEW EVENT(s) + Round up of lots of research and market updates in this one!

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT 🧬

• What is the most important problem to solve in ageing?

A seemingly simple question yet one without consensus. This study set out to systematically map the open problems in ageing. Using a human-AI centaur approach, they categorised and analysed nearly 200 open questions. Strikingly, the top 20 questions had 200 times more citations than the bottom 20. The most cited was “Why do we age?” with over 10,000 articles. The least cited was “How can we measure the extent and pace of changes in the homeodynamic space during ageing?” with just a single citation. The frontier lies in the least explored problems. That’s where the real work is needed - Read more

• What happens if we do plasmapheresis without replacing the plasma?

Plasmapheresis is a procedure that separates plasma from blood cells clearing pro-aging factorshas shown promise in slowing biological ageing when plasma is replaced with that from young donors. But what happens if no replacement is made? This study suggests that non-replacement plasmapheresis may actually accelerate epigenetic ageing, as measured by DNAmGrimAge, the Hannum clock, and the Dunedin Pace of Aging. However, the findings are based on just 18 weeks of data. More research is needed to understand the long-term impact and safety - Read more

• Can we track health over decades?

Health data is fragmented and often lacks the power and resolution to connect biology with disease. The Human Phenotype Project (HPP) aims to fix this. Launched in 2018, it aims to collect longitudinal biobank data covering multiomics, microbiome, imaging, clinical tests, lifestyle, and wearables from tens of thousands ethnically diverse individuals, modelling the continuum from health to disease and ageing. Although still in its early stages, with plans to follow participants for 25 years, initial findings are promising. “Cardiovascular age” and “gene expression age” outperform chronological age in predicting metabolic health. Moreover, distinct microbiome signatures have been identified in patients with breast cancer, IBD, and endometriosis. This approach of building digital twins of human health holds great potential to predict individual ageing trajectories, enabling targeted prevention and precision care - Read more

• Could psilocybin (magic mushrooms) slow ageing?

Psilocybin is known for its incredible long-lasting benefits on multiple neuropsychiatric conditions. An interesting observation linked improved mental health with ...