The Robust Mouse Rejuvenation Study at Ichor Life Sciences

Thursday - November 9 2023, 06:42 UTC - 1 year ago

The Robust Mouse Rejuvenation Study is a complex experiment funded by LEVF at Ichor Life Sciences, Syracuse and is expected to produce results in 2024. It is an effort to fully characterize the combined interventions required to dramatically extend mouse lifespan in a manner that meets LEVF’s criteria for success. 800 mice have been selected, 400 of which are controls and 400 are subjects for intervention, with the goal of producing preventive and curative applications for species other than mice.

The survival curves are definitely approaching the stage where we can draw tentative conclusions concerning average lifespan. What we won’t be able to do for a good six months yet, probably more like nine months, is speculate even tentatively about maximum lifespan, i.e. about whether we’re seeing a true postponement of decline or merely a “rectangularisation”. That’s the acid test for a combination study, because the goal is to hit all major, life-limiting types of damage one way or another, whether directly or indirectly.

Rapamycin and Stem cell transplants are producing the best individual results but it appears the combination of all four treatments (rapamycin, stem cells transplant, Senescent cells ablation and telomerase expression) is doing the better than even Rapamycin by itself.One heartening thing Aubrey can begin to say, which is what’s shown on the first image, is that the two types of controls, mock and naive, are behaving pretty much indistinguishably in the “all-control” treatment group. (Note that it’s normal in this strain, C57Bl/6, for males to live longer than females.) This is excellent news (assuming it holds up!) because it means we have chosen (and implemented!) our delivery methods in a manner that did not impose additional impact, whether beneficial or detrimental, on mouse lifespan. If there is such an impact, we have enough mice that we can factor it out when we quantify the effects of the interventions themselves, but with no such effect being present we are on statistically much more solid ground.

In about a month there will be an expanded range of data on mouse health. You’ll recall that the last update had a teaser of that, in the form of a bit of glucose tolerance data; next time I hope to present some data on physical performance (Rotarod), appearance (alopecia) and cognitive performance (open field behavior).

The Robust Mouse Rejuvenation” study that LEVF (Longevity Escape Velocity Foundation) is funding at Ichor Life Sciences in Syracuse is an effort to fully characterize the combined interventions required to dramatically extend mouse lifespan in a manner that meets LEVF’s criteria for success: that the study .

- is applied to mice of a strain with a historic mean lifespan of at least 30 months .

- is initiated at an age of at least 18 months .

- increases both mean and maximum lifespan by at least 12 months .

In each study in this program, they will examine the synergy of (typically at least four) interventions already known individually to extend mouse lifespan, specifically rapamycin, stem cell transplants, senescent cell ablation, and telomere-targeted gene transfer. In total, 800 mice have been selected for the study, with 400 used as controls understanding the results. This will be one of the largest experimental mouse studies ever done and the Syracuse facility where this study will take place will be the first of its kind, opening its doors in 2024. The entire project is funded solely by donations to LEVF.

We can only hope the results from this study will show similar improvements and that it can eventually be applied to species other than mice. Hopefully, this research will also prove to be applicable in both preventive and curative applications. Donate to the Longevity Escape Velocity Foundation at this link in order to help contribute to this life changing research.