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100 years old birthday cake to old woman elderly celebration funny humor This is really ground-breaking research in a number of ways, and it could easily change the fundamental path of healthcare around the world. The idea is that pluripotent stem cells, a type of “variety” cell model, could be used to generate radical results in the human body, or, in a similar sense, to build resistance to disease. There’s a paper floating around about some of this work being done at Northeastern University, where researchers are finding that a certain type of healthy human induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs can be used for what some would call “regenerative medicine,” in aid of warding off chronic conditions like, for example, Alzheimers and dementia. In coverage of these experiments, Wei Xie, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at Northeastern, explains how AI can contribute to a functional model for iPSC generation and study: “Manufacturing of the future involves complex cyber-physical systems,” Xie says. “It should be fast, flexible and robust so that if iPSCs need to be differentiated to a different cell type, it doesn’t take a lot of expensive experiments and a lot of time.” Armed with these ideas, scientists are hard at work. “To learn the optimal critical parameters for growing an iPSC in a laboratory, the scientists developed a model that can predict cell response to changes in the environment and help control the cultivation process,” writes Alena Kuzub. “The framework uses both mechanistic models built on existing knowledge of natural sciences and interpretable AI.” MORE FOR YOU Re-Thinking Healthcare All of this corresponds to other theory and research being done around holistic healthcare. In a recent Ted Talk in Boston, George Murphy explains this set of concepts and how he studies centenarians, individuals uniquely resistant to aging, in what he calls a “centenarian in a dish,” using pluripotent stem cells, which he calls “one cell to rule them all” a la J.R.R. Tolkien parlance. In light of this, he presents a profound question: “We are all extraordinarily lucky to live in an era of transformative therapy that can treat and potentially cure diseases that have plagued us for decades,” Murphy said. “Now that all sounds great, but the question, the question that should keep you up at night, is this: what if our approach to science, and the medicines that result from it, is completely off?” In other words, should we really be focused on treating disease, or preventing it altogether? Having sat through dozens of these talks, I could intuit what’s behind this query: that just now, thanks to AI, we finally have the insight to see the big picture. You’ve Got The Right Stuff, Baby Murphy explained how centenarians, according to his research, have genetic predispositions to staying young and healthy. “They upregulate genes that are involved in something called neurogenesis, or the birth of new neurons, as well as genes that interrogate proteins and make sure they are built and work properly,” he said. “So in other words, centenarians potentially regenerate their existing neurons, or maybe even make new ones, and they have a ‘leap’ mechanism to interrogate and eliminate potential disease-causing protein, like those that actually lead to cognitive decline.” Interesting. They’re lucky. Can we take that petri dish material and help the rest of us? “Let's also perform an experiment,” Murphy added, “in which we assess the function of these cells … allowing us to compare the performance of centenarian cells to normal individuals. I think you'll agree that what the data shows is quite astounding. So first: using live cell imaging, what we can do is monitor the firing of individual neurons in a dish. This method demonstrates that centenarian neurons have more stable activity and reduced background noise, better performance, and less overall discord and disarray.” Reserves of Energy Citing mitochondrial research principles, Murphy explained that centenarians, at a cellular level, practice a sort of energy conservation that can support longer life span. “Centenarian neurons also operate in a more energy efficient state with reduced hyperactivity, so less energy, really,” he said. “If you met these individuals, that might seem antithetical, because they're so energetic and robust, but this adaptation highlights a parallel strategy employed by other long-lived mammals, like the bullhead whale. … these features highlight a shared strategy of conserving energy and minimizing damage in a steady state, but preserving robust adaptive capacity (for) when stress arises.” It's not a fluke, he suggested. “If we look at the molecular underpinnings of centenarian neurons,” Murphy said, “they are far more similar to healthy aging brains than to those impacted by Alzheimer's disease, and these resiliency signatures are more strongly associated with reduced cancer risk. So centenarians really are wonders of the world.” I’m Going to Disneyland After laying out this conceptual framework, Murphy indulged in a bit of speculation on the kinds of things that centenarians might want to do with their extra time. “Imagine 100 years or more of escapades and entertainment all done in good cognitive and functional health, exercising your right to vote at 110, maybe breaking the skydiving age record at 106,” he said. “We all have a universal desire to age well.” I’ll skip the skydiving, thanks. Regardless, whatever we choose to spend our extra years on, this kind of research makes it pretty clear that AI has handed us new keys to a kingdom that we are only just beginning to discover. Although Murphy theorizes that this generation will not reach common centenarianism, it seems quite evident that others might. And of course, “regular” lifestyle interventions are pretty useful. “Don't smoke,” Murphy said. Exercise. Employ reasonable lifestyle choices, prod your doctor to treat you when you're feeling good, instead of practicing disease medicine, practice preventative medicine, and perhaps we can all work together to shift our focus away from disease to a steady … emboldened resilience. And perhaps, just perhaps there is a role for IPSC master stem cell modeling of things like aging and longevity, where these systems can be used to identify new biomarkers of aging, or perhaps to employ preclinical screening of novel therapeutics aimed at increasing your longevity, or extending your health span and combating aging related disease.” I have to admit I didn’t completely follow all of that last bit, but the underlying theme is clear. We can do more for our health than in previous eras. So let’s start. Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions
