Cellular reprogramming has been used to reverse ageing in living animals for the first time 

The fountain of youth is real.

PETER DOCKRILL 

16 DEC 2016 

For the first time, scientists have used cellular reprogramming to reverse the ageing process in living animals, enabling mice with a form of premature ageing to live 30 percent longer than control animals.

The technique involves the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which lets scientists reprogram skin cellsto a base, embryonic-like state. From there, iPSCs can develop into other types of cells in the body – and now researchers have shown that reprogramming cells can also rejuvenate living creatures, in addition to winding back cells.

"In other studies scientists have completely reprogrammed cells all the way back to a stem-cell-like state," says researcher Pradeep Reddy from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

"But we show, for the first time, that by expressing these factors for a short duration, you can maintain the cell's identity while reversing age-associated hallmarks."

The iPSC technique was developed by Japanese researcher Shinya Yamanaka in 2006, when he discovered that differentiated cells could be wound back to embryonic-like stem cells by inducing the expression of four genes now known as the Yamanaka factors.

But while reprogramming cells to such an embryonic-like state sounds like it might make organisms younger, it also introduces dangerous complications. Research in 2013 and 2014 found that introducing iPSCs in living animals was fatal, resulting in cancerous growths or organ failure from adult cells having lost their identity.

"Obviously there is a logic to it," epigenetics researcher Wolf Reik from the University of Cambridge in the UK, who wasn't involved with the study, told Hannah Devlin at The Guardian.

"In iPS cells you reset the ageing clock and go back to zero. Going back to zero, to an embryonic state, is probably not what you want, so you ask: where do you want to go back to?"

That kind of thinking led the Salk researchers to attempt partial reprogramming. Rather than inducing the expression of the Yamanaka factors for up to three weeks – which leads to pluripotency – they only induced the genes for two to four days.

This means the cell retains its differentiation – ie. a skin cell stays a skin cell, not being wound back all the way to a stem cell – but it effectively becomes a younger version of itself.

At least, that's the hypothesis, and the researchers suspect that partial reprogramming removes the build-up of what's called epigenetic marks in our cells – the wear and tear that builds up in our genome in response to environmental and external factors.

Over time, these marks become more and more pronounced, degrading cell efficiency and contributing to what we experience as ageing. The researchers liken the process to a manuscript that's become illegible due to too many hand-written edits.

"At the end of life there are many marks and it is difficult for the cell to read them," one of the team, Izpisua Belmonte, told Nicholas Wade at The New York Times.

While that remains a hypothesis for now, the researchers' experiments suggest they're onto something.

In mice with progeria – a rare genetic disease that brings about premature ageing – animals that received a partial reprogramming treatment lived for 24 weeks on average, while untreated animals with the same illness lived for just 18 weeks.

"It is difficult to say specifically why the animal lives longer," one of the team, Paloma Martinez-Redondo says in a press release.

"But we know that the expression of these factors is inducing changes in the epigenome, and those are leading to benefits at the cellular and organismal level."

In addition to a longer lifespan, the treated animals' health also received a boost, with the mice showing improved cardiovascular and organ functions.

When the treatment was applied to healthy mice without progeria, they too showed improved organ health – but it's too early to say whether their longevity was also affected, as the animals are still living.

While these results are promising, it's still early days for this research – especially to the extent that it could one day be applied to humans.

We've only seen these results in mice so far, but the researchers are hopeful that a selective inducement of the Yamanaka factors might produce similar effects in people.

"Obviously, mice are not humans and we know it will be much more complex to rejuvenate a person," says Belmonte.

"But this study shows that ageing is a very dynamic and plastic process, and therefore will be more amenable to therapeutic interventions than what we previously thought."

The team now intends to look into the development of molecules that may be able to mimic the Yamanaka factors, with a focus on the rejuvenation of specific tissues and organs.

These medicines won't be available tomorrow, but on the other hand, it doesn't sound like they're too far away either.

"These chemicals could be administrated in creams or injections to rejuvenate skin, muscle, or bones," Belmonte told The Guardian.

"We think these chemical approaches might be in human clinical trials in the next 10 years."

The findings are reported in Cell.

'Frozen' Man Revived From the Brink of Death After Being Found in the Snow With No Pulse

A young man from Pennsylvania was recently found frozen in the snow.  His blood and body were warmed, he regained his heartbeat after 90 minutes and after 30 days he regained consciousness.  It was feared he might have permanent damage.  He did lose his toes and pinkies to frostbite.

This story may provide the medical community with clues on how to revive people from a frozen state.  Cryonicists take heed - this could be good news.

To read more:  http://abcnews.go.com/Health/frozen-man-revived-brink-death-found-snow-pulse/story?id=36380318. 

Rudi Hoffman Speaks at Alcor Life Extension Conference October 9-11, 2015

Rudi Hoffman, Certified Financial Planner and the world's leading cryonics life insurer, addressed about 200 people attending the 8th Worldwide Alcor Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona on October 11, 2015.

Here is brief outline of his presentation:

1.  What if some of us are wrong?  Not about the science, the technology, the biology components to the feasibility of cryonics.  But about the feasibility of the FUNDING of cryonics.  

2.  One of the foundational principles of scientific epistemology is looking not for confirmation, but trying to find  NON confirmatory evidence or information.  

3.  However, human nature being what it is, given the unknowns of future costs of funding issues in cryonics, even many long term and serious minded cryonicists tend to not think about how their cryonics funding program could go wrong, or be insufficient for future needs and possibilities.  Overcoming this so called "CONFIRMATION BIAS" is an important component of rationally addressing this problem.

4.  The purpose of this talk is to make EXPLICIT some of the "hard questions" of cryonics funding, and suggest a possible answer to these problems.

5.  No one ever promised or even implied that trying to actually overcome permanent death is supposed to be easy, trivial, or inexpensive.  The epic scope of the mission of cryonics...providing a bridge to a future technology that has solved the joint problems of ageing and death...indicates this will be hard.  Together, we can "roll up our sleeves" and jointly do everything we can to make sure that we address optimal funding for our cryonics arrangements.

6.  Due to inflation and technological enhancements, the cost of a state of the art cryopreservation is almost certain to increase.  

7.  Historically, Alcor costs have increased at about 3% a year.  When this author signed up with Alcor in 1994 the cost of a whole body cryopreservation was $120,000.  It is now $200,000 in 2015.  

8.  The "Rule of 72" is a tool enabling us to figure out doubling times of costs in our heads.  By taking an inflation rate into the number 72, the result which comes out represents the doubling time of costs.  I.e, a 3% inflation rate represents a doubling of costs every 24 years.  ( 72 divided by 3 equals 24.)

9.  Brief overview of types of life insurance:

    A.  Term life insurance.  Premium (cost) and coverage stays level for a "term" or period of time.  Lower in cost in the early years when we tend to not die, but shockingly high in the later years.  If one starts with term, it should upgradeable to a permanent type of policy

    B.  Permanent life insurance.  Premium (cost) stays LEVEL for one's lifetime, or even stops in the later years once there is sufficient cash value in the policy to enable the policy to pay itself  A newer form of this is Index Universal Life.  This type policy is recommended for cryonics funding, as we need a policy which will actually be IN PLACE in the later years when we tend to die.  Industry statistics indicate 97 of 100 term policies do not result in a death benefit.  This is because they generally are non-renewed due to extreme cost increases in the later years.  The costs don't merely double or quadruple, but go up by a factor or 50 or 100 times in the later years.

10,  Analogy:  Two forms of transportation technology, the bicycle and the car.  Both good transport tools, with different optimal uses.  However, the car does have more moving parts, is a more complicated piece of technology.

In a similar manner, Index Universal Life has more moving parts than straight whole life or universal life, but has the capability to beat INFLATION due to it's structure.  

11.  Call to action:  Get your current cryonics funding ANALYZED by a competent and caring professional.  Consider OVERFUNDING your cryonics by a substantial margin.  If one cannot afford enough permanent coverage for an overfunding of 2 to 4 times the current cost of cryopreservation, obtain a TERM policy which can be upgraded as one's financial capability improves.  Find out what the reality of enabling optimal cryonics and estate funding actually is, even if you can't afford now, so you have a definite actionable path forward as finances improve.

12.  Cryonics Trusts exist, and can be funded with life insurance.  

Hoping to Transcend Death, via Cryonics

Here's a recent article in The New York Times regarding cryonics and one woman's chance to preserve her brain with the chance that one day it may be revived.

http://nyti.ms/1UOo9TD

Cryonics is not a new subject, but it is one that is getting more headline attention.  The conversation has begun and it is no longer taboo to discuss the possibility of life after life. 

You can learn more about cryonics at Alcor.org

If you have questions about estate planning and creating a Personal Revival Trust, contact Peggy R. Hoyt.  If you have questions about funding your cryonic preservation, contact Rudi Hoffman, CFP. 

Many Are Cold but Few Are Frozen: Cryonics Today

by Rudi Hoffman
(Magazine Excerpt from the October 2007 Free Inquiry Magazine)

What is Cryonics?

Cryonics is the science of cooling people immediately upon the pronouncement of legal death in the hope that, at some point, future technology may be able to resuscitate them. As such, it is a logical extension of the science of cryobiology, in which semen (which can be used almost indefinitely after cryo­preservation), human eggs, human embryos, and other biological organisms and tissues are stored at very cold temperatures, typically in liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees Celsius.

The cryopreservation of human sperm and embryos is a mature technology to which thousands of men and women already owe their lives. Intestines, ovaries, blood vessels, and skin are among the many tissues that can be reversibly cryo­preserved with current technology. Even brain slices are cryo­preservable with normal function after rewarming. But the technology involved in cryogenically freezing and then successfully rewarming a complete, multicellular organism is much more complex. Cryonic suspension works today - if by "works" we mean "completely stops any further deterioration to the biological organism, whether for 30 or 300 years." Once a biological organism has been cooled to cryogenic temperatures, further deterioration stops. Still, as of this writing, there is no documented example of a large, multicellular animal like a dog, cat, rat, or human cooled to cryogenic temperatures then successfully rewarmed with all functions intact.

But the people signing up for cryonic preservation today are not deterred by the difficulties of cryopreserving whole people. There is scientific speculation that future technologies, like artificial general intelligence, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, may enable even imperfectly cryopreserved humans to be resuscitated with consciousness intact.

Just because this has yet to be done, it does not mean that it cannot be done. Legitimate cryonics protocols and concepts do not violate known laws of physics or biology, and there are many "proof of concept" examples, like reduced temperature surgery and operating-room resuscitation of people prematurely pronounced "dead."

Numerous modern medical procedures, including heart transplants, cloning, stem cell research, and even anesthesia, were once considered science fiction. (Interestingly, religious conservatives denounced each such advance as "playing God.")

How many people are signed up for cryonic preservation? The first successfully cryopreserved person who has remained at low temperature is Dr. James Bedford. He entered suspension on January 12, 1967, soon after the publication of Robert Ettinger's seminal book, The Prospect of Immortality. Though the practice of cryonics is over forty years old, the number of people signed up for suspension remains small. According to the Web sites of the two existing cryonics organizations, only about a thousand people have signed up, with about 150 already in liquid-nitrogen containers.

Why I Signed Up

In 1994, I read an article in Omni magazine about a cryonics organization, the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, now based in Scottsdale, Arizona. I was fascinated to find that there were at least two organizations providing human cryopreservation: Alcor and the Cryonics Institute, the latter based in Michigan. I had thought cryonics to be strictly science fiction, and I was thunderstruck to find that two real, solid organizations had been quietly cryopreserving people for decades.

At the time, Alcor's price for a full body suspension was $120,000. Due to inflation and improved protocols, it has now risen to $150,000. (The Cryonics Institute charges slightly less.) I was surprised to find that this entire cost can be paid by life insurance! By simply adding an extra policy naming Alcor as beneficiary, for a few bucks a day, I could be a part of this grand experiment.
As a Certified Financial Planner, part of my business is implementing life insurance solutions for my clients. I determined that an extra permanent universal life-insurance policy was quite affordable - even affordable enough to "cost justify" to my wife, whose enthusiasm for this experiment was initially less than overwhelming.

Like many people who eventually sign up for cryonics, I had multiple questions. The Alcor staff answered them straightforwardly. There was a clear understanding that cryonics is not a guaranteed ticket to the future, but is a "best efforts" proposal of dedicated and conscientious individuals. The multiple variables that could go wrong were clearly laid out for me, both in my conversations with Alcor staff and in the paperwork that they sent to me. I have since learned a great deal about the cryonics community. People who sign up for cryonics display interesting demographics. Not surprisingly, many tend to be skeptical of the claims of religions. They are generally scientific, analytical, and academic by orientation. Until recently, they have been disproportionately software engineers and computer professionals.

Most of us are extremely aware of the variables that could make resuscitation unlikely. The circumstances surrounding one's "legal death" are obviously critical. Many of us have taken steps to reduce our personal risks for unexpected clinical death in order to maximize the likelihood that a cryonics team will be present at the time our heart stops. Coming "out of the closet" as a cryonicist with friends and family can be difficult, but it is obviously helpful to reduce the chance of delays or legal action near the time of cryopreservation.
Still, not all variables are uncontrollable. Two individuals signed up for cryonic suspension died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. In such instances, proceeds of the insurance policy meant to fund cryonic suspension go to a named secondary beneficiary such as a loved one or charity, just as with ordinary life insurance.

While I am not sanguine about the logistical and technological challenges that need to be met for cryonics to work, I am happy to say I feel very good about my cryonics arrangement. It is a rationalist's way of coping with medical problems for which there is no contemporary solution. While acknowledging that cryonics, like other medical procedures, is always a "best efforts" intervention, being a signed cryonicist makes me feel like I have at least taken advantage of the most recent developments in science and technology.

Ethical Considerations

The ethics of cryonics are certainly relevant to humanists who seek to live with high integrity. Let me try to respond to some commonly expressed concerns.

In a world of scarce resources and overpopulation, should people try to preserve and extend their lives? We've already answered this question, every one of us: of course we should! Any persons seriously convinced that human individuals cause more human problems than they solve would be ethically constrained to kill themselves. Fortunately, most of us feel like we solve more problems than we create. While that may be self delusion on the part of some, I respectfully suggest that the world would be better if Albert Einstein, Robert G. Ingersoll, or Richard Feynman were still generating ideas - or might do so in the future - instead of being permanently and irretrievably dead.
What about the ethical aspects of paying for cryonics? Currently, society expends enormous resources to keep very old and frail people alive, though there may be no chance of improvement in the quality of their lives. In contrast, cryonics is easily paid for with an extra life insurance policy, is paid using only private as opposed to public funds, and has the potential to restore individuals to a quality of life that could be astounding. How should we as a society treat patients who have run out of medical options? Should they be stabilized against the day when radically advanced medicine might render a second opinion, or shall we destroy them in our arrogant conviction that present medicine has the last word on what is and isn't possible for all time?

Conclusion

While not for everyone, cryonics offers to some a reasonable, affordable, and ethical alternative when contemporary medicine fails. From the viewpoint of a person from 1907, only one hundred years ago, most Free Inquiry readers already lead science-fiction lifestyles. It is not a stretch of vision or imagination to understand that cryonics, like cloning or heart surgery, will be mainstream technology in the future. This is the chance to take an ambulance ride to that future.

Acknowledgment

Sincere thanks to Dr. Brian Wowk of 21st Century Medicine for assistance with this article.

Rudi Hoffman in front of Alcor liquid nitrogen dewars, 2006. Each container holds four or more "patients" at -196˚C.

 

 

Welcome to The Affordable Immortal

Welcome to The Affordable Immortal.  Rudi Hoffman, CFP and estate planning attorney, Peggy Hoyt, J.D., M.B.A., B.C.S. (Board Certified Specialist in Wills, Trusts and Estates and Elder Law) are the hosts of this site for the purpose of sharing information relevant to cryonicists regarding the future of their financial and estate planning.

Rudi Hoffman, CFP, is the leading cryonics insurance salesman in the nation.  He works with individuals to meet their financial planning needs, but specifically to address the needs of cryonicists who wish to fund their cryopreservation using life insurance products.

Peggy Hoyt, J.D., M.B.A, B.C.S. (Board Certified Specialist in Wills, Trusts and Estates and Elder Law), has a passion for unique and interesting areas of the law, including cryonics planning.  She has assisted a number of cryonicists to accomplish their long term estate planning goals through the creation of a Personal Revival Trust.

You can learn more about Rudi and Peggy by clicking their page links.  Please use this site as a resource by following links to Alcor and Cryonics Institute for more information.