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/sci/ - Science & Math

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4321239 No.4321239 [Reply] [Original]

Say guys,

Lets say I wanted to develop some sort of treatment that would elongate the human lifespan.
Like a shot that repairs damaged telomere caps or something.

what would I have to study, and what would I have to do to start developing this?

>> No.4321253

biochemistry?

>> No.4321260

biomedical

>> No.4321290

>>4321239
pharmacology

>> No.4321298

>>4321239
More specifically:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicinal_chemistry

>> No.4321302

>>4321253
>>4321260
>>4321290

Genetics derpnoses.

Telomeres are there for a reason. Your medication will only cause cancer...which happens to be immortal but...still cancer.

>> No.4321304

>>4321302
He didn't say that he specifically wants to do that, and that's the only thing he wants to do. He just gave an example.

Also, I really doubt you know for certain that there is no possible way to regenerate telomerase without causing cancer. I'm not saying the opposite is necessarily true either, I'm just saying I doubt either of us has sufficient information to make a solid claim either way.

>> No.4321314

>>4321304

Telomerase...only expressed in pluripotent stem cells and cancer cells. We already got it; they're suppose to get short on purpose.

>> No.4321318

>>4321314
>they're suppose to get short on purpose.
Yes, and?

>> No.4321325

>>4321318

err...and so the enzyme is only expressed in a small number of cells because if it was expressed in every cell, they would all multiply without end until you're a giant tetsuo with little nubby fingers on the end of your nubby fingers.

>> No.4321331

Biochemistry and molecular biology. Molecular biology would help you understand the variouse systems of a cell and how DNA, RNA, and protein biosythesis regulate. the Biochemistry would help you essentially develop said shot you wish to create, with studying chemical processes in living organisms. Also it teaches you about metabolism, which, if you want to make a shot, will be very hand as it is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of a living orgaism to sustain life. You could figure out a way through Metabolism to either sustain life in a supended state, or find a way to slow down cell division. If it were possible to find the starter "parent cell" and copy it again into the human body so we can continue to creat fresh new cells then a human could continue to live longer, though I'm sure there would still be oviouse signs of aging still. I think it would probably be impossible for you to find that, I dont completly doubt that this kind of thing is possible, but it would take a long time to develop something such as that, also the effects it may have on a person. You can't invent something good without something bad coming out of it, like possibly cancer as was mentioned or possible something new. Any way good luck on your mission if you choose to presue it.

>> No.4321332

>>4321325
Okay...

No one ever said telomerase regeneration would be the only process going on. Your argument is, "nature does it this way so there's no way you can stop that." Which is, on every level of argumentation, wrong. Your thinking seems to be so limited, a sort of "this can't work, and here's why." instead of, "here's how it doesn't work, how do we make it work?"

>> No.4321336

What about focusing on mitochondrial fuction and oxidative stress insted of on telomeres and Hayflick? I don't know much about the subject but Nick Lane's book Oxygen presents some very interesting ideas about this topic.

>> No.4321337

I thought telomeres were supposed to tick away because the longer you live the more likely you were to develop a cancer in general.
It's not necessarily a causality thing.

And if telomerase was triggered in cancer cells that might be because of an apoptotic signal and not some natural thing unless it was cancerous to begin with.

>> No.4321363

>>4321331

This post is good.

>>4321332

On the contrary, nature has been "doing it" this way since multicellular life stopped being sponges. Metabolic control mechanisms and dna repair pathways are conserved throughout most of life; let alone life with telomeres. This implies that these mechanisms are essential for life. Period. At least, I like having not-webbed fingers and a closed spinal cord etc.

Now, designing a new genome that has an entirely different mechanism of growing, maturation, and sustaining a human such that it lasts longer...good luck. Reinventing the wheel is hard work.

>>4321336

Yeah, oxidative stress is a big one, and I'd lean more towards that than telomeres. Regardless, all of these things would not change the regular process of gene expression that marks aging, like changes in hormones etc. Also, neurons are a problem since they cannot divide and even if they did, whatever memories or knowledge they were a component of would have to be relearned. What's the point in living longer if your not consciously aware of who you are?

>> No.4321380

>>4321337

Right, there are multiple systems to control cellular division. Take for example beauty marks; they are melanocytes who have happened received uv damage (thymine dimers) on or around a gene locus that arrests it's normal cell cycle. This causes them to multiply for a number of generations and thus help protect you from increased uv exposure by being more numerous. However, after a finite number of generations, the telomere becomes too short and parts of essential genes are not copied causing the cells to stop multiplying.

Shit is the way it is for good reason.