Interesting paper on mTOR inhibitors as tested in c.elegans:
Characterization of Effects of mTOR Inhibitors on Aging in Caenorhabditis elegans
Pharmacological inhibition of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway with rapamycin can extend lifespan in several organisms. Although this includes the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans , effects in this species are relatively weak and sometimes difficult to reproduce. Here we test effects of drug dosage and timing of delivery to establish the upper limits of its capacity to extend life, and investigate drug effects on age-related pathology and causes of mortality. Liposome-mediated rapamycin treatment throughout adulthood showed a dose-dependent effect, causing a maximal 21.9% increase in mean lifespan, but shortening of lifespan at the highest dose, suggesting drug toxicity. Rapamycin treatment of larvae delayed development, weakly reduced fertility and modestly extended lifespan. By contrast, treatment initiated later in life robustly increased lifespan, even from Day 16 (or ~70 years in human terms). The rapalog temsirolimus extended lifespan similarly to rapamycin, but effects of everolimus were weaker. As in mouse, rapamycin had mixed effects on age-related pathologies, inhibiting one (uterine tumor growth) but not several others, suggesting a segmental antigeroid effect. These findings should usefully inform future experimental studies with rapamycin and rapalogs in C. elegans .
Crowdfunding seems great if it is to test substances that are well known and not patentable.
The product/diet etc. should be affordable for at least 80% of the population.
This seems to be relatively news substances based on chemical modifications of known substances which will result in high cost patented drugs and extreme profits for the discoverers.
Why not issue shares and let everyone who invests benefit instead of just the persons that run a farm of C. Elegans worms on a disc. Some persons in this forum can easily spend 25 or 100K without even notice it… I want longer healthspan and lifespan for the masses!
@Karel1 I have been in contact with different labs around that in some labs they see good benefits of rapamycin and in other ones none. The latest person I talked to this week was with the researcher David Gem and they have had challenges with getting rapamycin to work in worms. Also the ITP for worms CIPT had this issue. The company Epiterna and also other labs. In this clip Mitchell Lee, the CEO of Ora Biomedical, talks about why Rapamycin and other rapalogs are not working as expected. The problem is due to problems with crystallization on higher doses but I think there might be some way to get rapamycin to work. This is why I’m trying to figure out some way for it and talk to different labs.
It’s good that you lift up the investment opportunities and I have started to think more and more around this. One big problem with making this project an investment project is that there would not be any good incentives to make this data public. I feel it’s very important that we provide this basic data to the public. It can not be hidden. But one potential way that I may add as a bonus to this project is that depending on the amount people sponsor the bigger pre-investing amount they will have around these compounds when Rapamycin Longevity Lab starts to develop cocktails around these. For example, let’s say you sponsor 1000$ then you will be able to pre-invest $1000 before everyone else on each new cocktail that the Rapamycin Longevity Lab develops based on these compounds. What do you think about that?
@Beth@AustraliaLongevity@RapAdmin Thanks for highlighting this! Ora biomedical has now launched the fundraising page for the second subproject where the rest of the mTOR inhibitors will be screened.
Yes, I shared the link with one person who was interested in helping out and then Rapamycin Longevity Lab made a contribution. Next week on Tuesday my plan is to make a announcement in social medias that the fundraising for the second subproject has started
Very exciting. It’s good to take advantage of the momentum of the excitement that the first half of the fundraiser is done and the results will be coming in, in the next 2-3 months.
We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve reached 28% funding for our second subproject, where we’ll screen the remaining 300 mTOR inhibitors! The goal is to uncover the next breakthrough beyond the mTOR inhibitor Rapamycin, which is currently the most promising longevity compound due to its effects across multiple species. But there are likely even more potent longevity compounds waiting to be discovered and that’s exactly what this project is all about!
A massive thank you to everyone who has contributed so far and especially to Anonymouse for the latest generous $10K contribution to the second subproject! All this support is making a real difference in advancing longevity research and generating unique data that no one else has delivered to the field before. This large dataset will be publicly available for everyone, providing an important foundation for labs, researchers and AI to progress beyond basic studies toward more advanced and impactful longevity research.
If you’re passionate about longevity or want to help make a difference, we’d love for you to get involved in this historical project! Whether through sponsoring, sharing the social media posts (LinkedIn, X) or even just give them a thumbs up. Every action helps to move the needle forward. Let’s make this happen together!
Yes, I fully agree, will be very interesting to see what new findings we as a field will do thanks to this project. The latest I have heard from Ora is that things point towards that there are compounds which show increase, no effect or even decrease in lifespan. All these data points will be super interesting to deep dive in.
Big thanks for the contribution, @Neo! It’s a very good question around tax rights! I know in Sweden where I live they have the possibility of tax deduction for gifts somehow but I’m not sure how it works when it comes to gifts given to a party in another country. I will check that. For US citizens then it’s possible to get it. I will add more info on that in the project white paper and on the fundraising page. Thanks for highlighting this!
Not clear that this partnership has ever been operationalized. I looked around lifespan.io and couldn’t find a way to do anything specific to Ora. Maybe @Mitchell_Ora can explain how this is supposed to work.
Not clear how a 501c3 can route money into a presumably for-profit Ora Biomedical. But it seems to be possible.
Ora Biomedical is proud to partner with Lifespan Research Institute, a U.S.-based nonprofit that serves as the fiscal sponsor for the Million Molecule Challenge. This scientific initiative aims to identify compounds that may extend healthy human lifespan. The partnership enables tax-deductible donations to be made via Lifespan.io, with contributions designated to support the Million Molecule Challenge through this fiscal sponsorship.
If someone is interested in contributing to the mTOR inhibitor project then reach out to me and I will put you in contact with the contact person at lifespan.io who will make it possible to enable a tax-deductible donation for people in the US.
PS. I have now also updated the project white paper with information about it.
