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Re: Project: Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease
Posted Feb 24, 2009 8:12 AM
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How come Alzheimer won??! That is plainly retarded. Alzheimer is caused by aging aka progeria. What a cruel irony!
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Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease
Posted Jan 23, 2009 11:08 PM
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Verily, too many have fallen to this foul disease. We have hope in your research!
Best regards from Serbia
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Edited by AAAoS at 01/23/2009 8:09 PM PST
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Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease
Posted Oct 25, 2008 11:27 AM
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hi, i will salute you from south america. up to the project!
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Re: Project: Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease
Posted Oct 21, 2008 12:22 AM
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For those of you who are new to this kind of research and would like to know more, check out the Methuselah Foundation. They are dedicated to researching the root causes of age-related disease (and aging itself). While the progress has been slow, I believe we will see some truly amazing results in the coming decades.
This will be a paradigm shift like we've never seen before.
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Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease
Posted Oct 19, 2008 3:29 AM
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The implications and potential raw scientific data from this project are incredibly more profound and far reaching than the competing projects. From age-related illness to an understanding of any number of physiological mechanisms, the impact of such a necessary project makes critical the need to fund it in as large a manner as possible,
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Re: Project: Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease
Posted Sep 11, 2008 3:40 AM
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Same here!!! I am disappointed Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease did not advance to the top 25. Who needs more kids??? Notice how nobody seems to feel sorry for the elderly the way they feel sorry for kids?
The page for this project said nothing about it not advancing or why it did not advance. They could have said, “This project did not advance to the Top 25. Thank you for your interest”.
Most of the posts for this project were very much in favor of it.
Loans That Change Lives, big whoop! What ever this project is doing, it is not addressing the problem of old age. Like most of the posters here, I do NOT relish getting old some day. I relish the public's tacit acceptance of old age even less.
Next year, could they somehow tie age related diseases to progeria, the disease that makes children age quickly? That would tie the project to children somehow.
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Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease
Posted Sep 9, 2008 6:37 PM
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90% of the health projects that were advanced to the next round of 25 have to do with babies and children. Do we really need more new people in this world? Let's focus on keeping the ones we have alive and healthy! This project is infinitely more important than all of the ones that advanced. It makes me angry.
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Edited by CM880489 at 09/09/2008 3:50 PM PDT
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Re: Project: Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease
Posted Sep 9, 2008 5:26 PM
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I can only assume that AmEx couldn't find a fulfilling organization for this project. Certainly the project itself was viable and clearly had enormous support. Oh well. We'll all just have to support the Methuselah Foundation ourselves.
Now that we're no longer in the running, I'd like to point us toward the project that I feel is most worthy of our votes:
Loans that Change Lives
Many of the top 25 projects aim to help only one particular location or region, whereas the Loans project aims to empower people all over the developing world to become entrepreneurs. In the long run, the benefits are enormous.
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Re: Project: Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease
Posted Sep 9, 2008 4:18 PM
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I totally agree with you JMorgan.
I hope Amex will tell us the reasons of this elimination.
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Re: Project: Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease
Posted Sep 9, 2008 1:37 AM
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I'm having a difficult time understanding why this project has been eliminated, while having enough nominations to be in the top 25 AND having the MOST discussion of any other project.
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Edited by JMorgan at 09/08/2008 10:37 PM PDT
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Re: Project: Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease
Posted Sep 7, 2008 8:51 PM
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> I googled age related disease research and found
> quite a lot of research going on in this field
> already, and much of this research is also at
> universities:
All of those groups are in one sense or another doing work related to aging, but few of them are doing work on the biology of aging; of these, only a few are doing biomedical research into the diseases of aging as they relate to the aging process; of these, only a few are doing research aimed at tackling the underlying degenerative process of aging itself (as opposed to trying to treat each individual disease of aging one at a time, piecemeal, like failed attempts to slay the Hydra); and of the few that you mention, fewer still are using an approach likely to lead to real cures in time for you or me or anyone you love.
To pick out a few examples: the Penn Population Aging Research Center and Duke University Population, policy & Aging research center do work on the demography, economics, and public policy challenges of an aging society; the Weill Cornell Center and Huffington Center On Aging do work in geriatric medicine (conventional, disease-centered medicine, focused on the special needs of biologically elderly patients); the Longevity Healthy Aging Research Group is an alternative medicine clinic doing today's so-called "anti-aging medicine" with homeopathy etc; the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research and Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research do work on health disparities in aging minority communities; the Tufts University Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging does work on how nutrition can help keep people healthier during aging, without dealing with the underlying biology of aging itself; the Alzheimer's and Aging Research Center is specifically focussed on Alzheimer's disease, again with no program in the biomedicine of aging per se; the George Washington University Center on Aging establishes "programs that creatively foster the release of human potential in older individuals"; etc.
The NIA Division of Aging Biology really does do work in the biology of aging -- but it's a tiny pittance of the NIA budget, and much of that is exploratory and descriptive work, not aimed at actual biomedical intervention.
> I also saw a ton of additional aging research
> projects that didn't have titles like the ones above!
... and they're almost all doing work like the ones above: laudable causes, to be sure, but none that will bring the new medicines that will treat the cellular and molecular degeneration of biological aging.
> As well as a lot of large foundations that fund age
> related disease studies.
... in a piecemeal fashion that inevitably falls apart in the face of the multiple vicious downward spiral of aging. You prevent a heart attack and get cancer instead; you treat diabetes, and the patient lives long enough that hir mind begins to go. Aging itself must be our new target.
> Which groups are most like your project?
The Semel Center, and the NIA Division of Aging Biology.
> What school would benefit if you win?
Young scientists from any school in the country with "Independent Studies" and "Advanced Honors" Programs and well-designed projects that would contribute to the repair of the molecular and cellular damage of aging would be eligible to be funded.
>
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Re: Project: Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease
Posted Sep 7, 2008 10:36 AM
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"Most of the intstitutions I listed were doing the research as the root of aging. Some specified that it was at the cellular level. Looking for the fountain of youth is nothing new. And doing it at a university doesn't seem to be unique either. I'm not saying that your project is bad, just that it looks like there are plenty of colleges already doing this. Good luck to you. "
Thank you for bringing up an important issue. Though, you are wrong, because you missed one important point:
There are some institutions working on fighting age related disease and slowing down aging. You could even say "plenty", because there are surely thousands of PhDs working on it. Though, it is *nothing* compared to the resources spent on fighting cancer, AIDS or other disease [better not start me on the money spent on war]. Millions of people and billions of dollars. There are thousands, probably in the realm of 5000, treatments currently tested for cancer.
Do you know how many treatments actually undergo testing to slow down aging? Zero. As far as I know such a purpose is not even acknowledged by the FDA! Even though those treatments could slow down every age related disease known to man.
Rarely some drugs are investigated in mice for this purpose. To give you an example, the National Institute on Aging (NIA) invests $6-$10M of its $1Bln budget for this type of research (the NIH on a whole has a budget of $28Bln). Even though one would assume it's their responsiblity.
The money invested in research on aging is in no proportion to the damage that age related disease and death causes.
As mentioned before even the few organisations involved most often concentrate on the gerontological approach, which is almost as time consuming as more unorthodox approaches, but only offers temporary and short-lived results, because it masks, but does not fight the cause!
EDIT: added NIH budget for illustration purposes
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Edited by KismetP at 09/07/2008 7:45 AM PDT
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Re: Project: Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease
Posted Sep 7, 2008 8:52 AM
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Most of the intstitutions I listed were doing the research as the root of aging. Some specified that it was at the cellular level. Looking for the fountain of youth is nothing new. And doing it at a university doesn't seem to be unique either. I'm not saying that your project is bad, just that it looks like there are plenty of colleges already doing this. Good luck to you.
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Re: Project: Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease
Posted Sep 7, 2008 3:40 AM
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Oh, and regarding which schools would benefit, this is a question best answered by whatever fulfilling organization is matched with the project. Certainly, the universities with appropriate curricula and facilities to conduct research, and who are willing to coordinate with the project, would be likely beneficiaries.
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Re: Project: Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease
Posted Sep 7, 2008 3:31 AM
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Howie, many of the organizations you list are indeed great organizations, but all too often the research is focused on a gerontology approach. By this I mean, many tend to focus merely on improving the quality of life of those who are already suffering age-related disease. This is not bad a thing, but it neglects the root cause of this frail state.
If we could extend a person's healthspan prior to the age when these diseases occur, we can buy ourselves the time we need to complete the research that cures all the individual diseases. As it is now, we're fighting a losing battle that will very quickly overwhelm us.
In the US alone, the costs of healthcare for aging baby-boomers by 2040 will be such a staggering amount, it will necessitate deep cuts in virtually every other area of funding and/or a serious increase in taxes. Offsetting this burden by extending lives and delaying the onset of age-related disease, even by just a few decades, will yield enormous returns, both economically and in improved standards of living for the elderly.
And since you mentioned it, the first one you listed (The Immortality Institute) is a non-profit organization with a very lively message board frequented by many students, scientists and other professionals who would love to share their thoughts and research with anyone who asks. It's worth visiting sometime.
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