The London Longevity Newsletter — Issue 11

Welcome to Issue 11 of the London Longevity Newsletter 🗞️

⚡Upcoming London Longevity Network event, in collaboration with Longevity Hacks

Women X Longevity: London Hackathon, 17-19th October

We are excited to host the first-ever hackathon dedicated to women’s longevity.

No matter your background - engineers, scientists, clinicians, founders - this is your chance to tackle the biggest unmet needs in female lifespan and reproductive longevity. It is also open to all genders; women’s health is not only a women’s problem to solve.

You can join:

• ​Panel only: 17 October

• ​Panel + Hackathon: 17–19 October

​Expect:

• ​Panel on women health opportunities + Network

• ​World-class mentors and domain experts

• ​Access to credits, datasets, and AI tools

• ​Workshops on AI tools and models from Hugging Face, Manus, Biomni and Netmind

• ​Prizes and post hack support

Sign up here: https://luma.com/wkht62b5

🚨 Prior to the Panel and Hackathon, we have four additional Virtual Workshops, running between 10th to 16th October:

• Build and Deploy AI with NetMind, 10 Oct

• Hands on AI with Manus AI, 13 Oct

• ML for Scientific Research with Hugging Face, 14 Oct

• Building with Biomni, 16 Oct

(The Workshops are especially valuable for those participating in the Hackathon, but anyone else is welcome to join!)

Let’s dive in! 🧪

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT 🧬

• Huntington’s disease treated for first time using gene therapy
  A landmark early trial shows that a single dose of a gene therapy can slow Huntington’s disease progression by up to 75% over three years, marking the first treatment to alter the course of this fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Developed by uniQure, the therapy delivers a viral vector carrying microRNA into the striatum, where it silences the mutant huntingtin gene and lowers toxic protein levels. Participants tolerated the procedure well, though the required brain surgery remains invasive. The promising results, if replicated, could usher in a new era for gene-based neurology, where permanent molecular “muzzles” replace lifelong symptom management, but questions of durability, safety, and access linger as costs are expected to exceed $1 million per patient currently. Read More

• Can ageing clocks guide cancer immunotherapy?
  A new review connects cellular senescence, the stress-induced, permanent cell-cycle arrest that shapes both tumour suppression and progression, with the rise of ageing clocks that quantify biological rather than chronological age. The authors trace how senescent cells, through the p53/p21 and p16/Rb axes and their pro-inflammatory secretome

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