After careful consideration, I have renounced my membership in the Academy for Health and Lifespan Research (@ahlresearch). I find it deeply distressing that we’ve gotten to a point where dishonesty in science is normalized to an extent that nobody is shocked when a tenured @Harvard professor falsely proclaims in a press release that a product he is selling to pet owners has “reversed aging in dogs”. To me, this is the textbook definition of snake oil salesman. Perhaps I’m being naïve in expecting that scientists should be held to a higher standard. I went into a career in scientific research as an idealistic young man who wanted to make discoveries to improve the world and help people. That idealism still fuels me today, although much has been lost along the way and replaced by realism, which I strive to keep from becoming cynicism. I do believe we can and should demand, at a minimum, honesty and integrity from our scientific leaders. I have renounced my membership in the Academy due to ongoing behavior by Academy President Dr. David Sinclair that I find both personally and professionally unacceptable. While I can’t control how others will behave, I choose not to associate with individuals or organizations that do not align with my core values.

Help save the Dog Aging Project. Despite being one of the most influential, productive and impactful NIH supported projects over the past 5 years, the National Institute on Aging has inexplicably chosen to withdraw support for the Dog Aging Project. For now, I’m won't get into the details of the process or my personal feelings about it, as the important thing is to ensure the Dog Aging Project doesn’t end. If you believe that the Dog Aging Project has value and should continue, I have three requests of you: (1) Please consider signing the petition to the NIH Director here: actionnetwork.org/petitions/… (2) Please consider sending an email to your elected representatives here: actionnetwork.org/letters/su… (3) Please share this message with your network as broadly as you can Thank you!!!

Ok folks, pay attention. Percent lifespan extension means nothing when the controls are short-lived. The next time someone Tweets about how “X increases lifespan in mice by Y percent!!!”, first thing you should do is look at the absolute lifespan of the controls /1

For those interested in a reasonably balanced and mostly hype-free breakdown of the recent reprogramming studies, I'd recommend this article. Two research teams reverse signs of aging in mice science.org/content/article/…

Just listened to @bradstanfield’s video, and while some of the details are off, the general theme is accurate. Given that I already know this story, I was still struck when @davidasinclair lies publicly about his research (starting at ~8:10) on @PeterAttiaMD's podcast. Frankly, this pattern of behavior is why I, and many of my colleagues, don't trust anything that comes out of the Sinclair lab.

My results from three of the most popular "biological age" tests taken from blood samples in late Dec 2022: 36 years, 39 years, and 59 years. Chronological age: 52 years this month. What does this tell us about the current state of consumer "biological age" testing?

In 2020, chronic (age-related) disease afflicted 50% of the population, and consumed >85% of health care costs in the US. That number is growing. When does the system break down completely? 90%? 95%? We need to start treating the root cause of these diseases, before that happens

A prediction: The first senomorphic/senolytic to be widely used for that purpose (rapamycin?) will be >10-fold more effective for healthy lifespan than the top 5 cancer therapies combined. Achieved with geroscience research receiving less than 1% the funding of cancer research

Don't be fooled into thinking just because lots of papers are published on a topic, it must be "right". You have to look at the data. Most published research is done under the lamppost, studying what's popular, easy, or fundable. # of Pubmed hits does not equal truth

All the influencers are losing it over the new report that intermittent fasting is associated with a 91% increase in heart disease death. Obviously many caveats, and not published yet so don't know what other flaws exist, but this seems like a pretty big effect and probably worth not ignoring completely, just because you don't want to believe it's true washingtonpost.com/wellness/… I've said all along that fasting/intermittent fasting/time restricted eating have little to no benefits if not also paired with a reduction in overall caloric intake. The animal data seem clear on this, at least from a longevity and healthspan perspective. We published a comprehensive review on this a couple of years ago. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article… Intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating in people can lead to reduced muscle mass - seen previously and also in the recent reports. That can likley be overcome by diet quality and resistance training, but requires some thought and effort. Loss of muscle mass is a problem and may be contributing to increased mortality here and in general. My advice: (1) If you want to do IF/TRF to control weight, you really need to focus on a high quality diet and do some resistance exercise to maintain muscle mass (2) If your doc or favorite internet personality isn't telling you this, you may want to seek information elsewhere (3) Don't do IF/TRF because you think it promotes longevity. It doesn't, even in mice, unless it's in the context of caloric restriction

One thing I like about bioRxiv. You get to see your work picked up by the scientific and popular press at the same time editors at "high impact" journals are telling you it isn't of sufficient general interest.

These two slides have become part of my go-to toolkit. They deliver a message of optimism, realism, and pragmatism. In the past 20 years, we’ve made remarkable strides in understanding biological aging. For all their limitations, the Hallmarks of Aging still represent a major milestone in aging research. We are beginning to solve aging. But here’s the reality: at its core, we still fundamentally do not understand aging. Even more importantly, we have no idea how limited our current understanding is. I liken it to a map of the surface of the earth that people were using in 500BC. You might see something that vaguely resembles Europe, a distorted Asia, and an oversized Libya. Sail too far, and you fall off the edge. Maybe that’s about where we are with aging biology. The point is, we need more discovery science – like the Million Molecule Challenge, like new animal models, like multiomic longitudinal data sets from diverse populations - if we ever hope to solve aging. AI won’t solve aging for us. Not yet. The data we have is still too limited. Garbage in, garbage out. Yet, despite being woefully incomplete and inaccurate, the map in 500 BC was still useful. People could trade, explorers could explore, riches were made. Likewise, we know enough about aging today to have an impact. Even with our rudimentary understanding, therapies are being developed - and probably already exist – that can have enormous positive impact on human and companion animal health. 💰 A single year of added healthspan in the U.S. alone could yield $38 trillion in economic gains. Let’s act on what we know today — and invest in what we need for tomorrow. Let’s create a Google Earth for Longevity — high-resolution, comprehensive, and actionable. Together, we can make longer, healthier lives a reality.

To those claiming they have "reversed aging", here is why I push back on that. In my opinion - especially in science - extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Claiming to make an animal age backwards is extraordinary! If anyone can show that they have made an old animal into a young animal and it goes on to live twice as long as it would have, I will agree you have reversed aging and be your biggest fan. Improving health is not reversing aging. Reversing one or a handful of age-related phenotypes is not reversing aging. I can do that with exercise or healthy diet or hair coloring. In fact, as far as I know, yet another year has passed and nobody has published any peer-reviewed data showing they can even match the absolute effects of rapamycin or caloric restriction on lifespan and healthspan metrics in lab animals. I would really like to be proven wrong, but until we get some hard data, I'll keep saying that it's dishonest to claim you've "reversed aging".

Particularly relevant for folks above age 40 who want to lose weight and increasingly so as you get older. Not only does lean tissue promote metabolic health, it's critical for preserving functionality. Resistance training should be a core part of every healthy longevity journey

I would encourage folks working at the interface of nutrition and longevity to start taking a more rigorous and critical approach toward their specialty. The ongoing lack of quality review here contributes to a reputation problem among the broader scientific community 1/17

The disease care model is not sustainable. ~90% of healthcare $ are spent on chronic diseases of aging. That number is increasing. When does it break? We should prioritize biological aging and develop therapies that keep people healthy instead of keeping them sick

I’m pleased to announce the official launch of the UW Rapamycin Study funded by the Impetus Grants program. Website is live and the we are actively recruiting participants: rapamycinstudy.org/ Please RT! @Blagosklonny @MartinBJensen @RapaNews /1

Longevity intervention discovery has stagnated. Nothing better than rapamycin has been found in 15 years. DrugAge contains only 1097 drugs. Imagine what we might find if we quantitatively, rigorously tested 1,000,000 interventions for lifespan and health effects. Stay tuned

I’m excited to share my latest article: “A Practical Approach to Healthspan Medicine” just published in Scientific American scientificamerican.com/custo… For too long, our healthcare system has operated on a reactive fix-it-when-it-breaks model. This piece outlines the emerging field of healthspan medicine—a proactive, systems-based approach to optimizing health, delaying disease, and increasing years lived in good health.

Catalyzing scientific discovery aimed at longer, healthier lives for all dogs and their humans. Truly amazing generosity from @brian_armstrong, @PeterAttiaMD, @JedMcCaleb, @tferriss, @kevinrose, @summertomato, @FEhrsam, @AdamRFisher, @juanbenet. 🙏❤️🐶 newsroom.uw.edu/news/tech-en…

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Epigenetic age does not equal biological age. Do the scientists using these terms interchangeably actually believe what they are saying? Or do they know they are misleading people? Either way, that's not a good thing.

How much extra healthy longevity can lifestyle alone get you? Studies seem to suggest ~7 years. I'd guess up to 10. You absolutely should focus on this - it's well worth it and very doable. But without geroscience interventions, lifestyle alone will only get you so far

It's starting to look like it's possible to reverse aging and age-associated molecular changes in mice without actually extending lifespan or healthspan. A truly remarkable achievement if this pans out 😜

Healthier at 54 than I was at 44. Still plenty of room for improvement, but if a middle-aged scientist can do it, you can too. And you don't need a complex blueprint that's more psuedo than science or a cabinet full of supplements. Focus on the foundation - eat, move, sleep, connect - and you'll be amazed at where you end up. This clip is from a recent workout with @ThomasDeLauer and @ArapisNick34515 💪

Once infected, biological age is the greatest predictor of death from COVID-19. Yet zero out of the ~$2 billion in COVID-19 set asides went to the National Institute on Aging. @WHOSTP, @whitehouse, @NIH, you might want to rethink your strategy here.

The authors should be commended for publishing the negative SIRT2 result, but I can't help but be a little sad about the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by folks over the past 20 years trying to prove sirtuins are important for aging, to achieve - at best - modest outcomes. In my experience, if something really works well, you don't have to try so hard to prove it works

Talked to someone today who is having good success treating lupus patients with rapamycin/sirolimus, some for many years. The biology makes perfect sense. Why is this not mainstream knowledge and clinical practice?

Sad sign of the times this even needs to be said, but headlines claiming @Harvard researchers developed a chemical approach to reverse aging are not true. Nobody has a drug to reverse aging. @elonmusk and everyone else, please don’t start taking anything based on this nonsense

Perhaps the biggest reason for failure in translational biomedical research is widespread use of *young* animal models to study diseases that largely afflict *old* people. Sadly, still the norm in some fields 👀

Nice timing for the paper and this story to come out, as I had my first go at therapeutic plasma exchange this morning. Look at all that old man plasma they squeezed out of me 😅 In all seriousness, I'm very optimistic about this approach both for potential positive effects on aging biology and for the possibility of diluting out environmental toxins such as microplastics. Procedure was super easy. Hardest part was sitting still for 2 1/2 hours. Thanks to @CirculateHealth and @Younggren for making it possible!

Risk of Alzheimer’s disease goes up ~10-fold for every 15 yrs of biological age. A chronologically aged 70 year old with a biological age of 55 is ~100-fold less likely to develop Alzheimer's (and many other diseases) than a 70 year old with a biological age of 85

This is one of the most common problems in scientific research today: people leaving data out of their papers because it doesn't fit their model. It's a far more common form of deception than outright fabrication of data, and it's a self-reinforcing behavior because people who do this are more likely to regularly publish in high profile journals (where simple clean stories rule) --> get grants --> repeat. Some students and post-docs in these labs see this and become trained to adopt this behavior. It's quite easy to follow this type of "training" through certain pedigrees in the longevity space if you know how to look for it. Eventually a field self-corrects once the model is sufficiently disproven, but this can take decades and burn through dozens of trainees who waste their time trying to build on a model with faulty foundations. It's a good rule of thumb to ask yourself "what aren't they telling me"?

In general, a healthy 65 year old is functionally impaired relative to a healthy 25 year old. Most people would be willing to accept some risk of side effects for the potential to delay, prevent, or reverse this decline #geroscience #rapamycin #exercise

Personal vendettas in science, as in the rest of life, are counterproductive. We'd make a lot more progress by spending more time working to get closer to the truth and less time trying to win an argument or make the other person look bad.

Sitting here at day 2 of @LongevityDublin feeling uneasy with the presentation from TripleHelix about what they are doing with gene therapy outside of any regulation. Then the guy starts talking about SIRT1 gene therapy, and now I'm certain they don't know what they are doing. Then he starts talking about putting 9 different genes in combination into people based on complete guesses. This isn't science. It's not safe. It's irresponsible experimentation in humans. Glad at least one scientist here had the guts to stand up during Q&A and call it out for what it is. Thank you @ScheibyeKnudsen.

Biology is complicated, and simplistic answers like mTOR good/mTOR bad are almost always wrong. Healthy mTOR activation to build muscle (dietary protein + exercise) is very different from mTOR hyperactivation in cancer or cardiac hypertrophy or aging (rapamycin).

As you all know, I'm a huge advocate for developing products that improve healthspan and lifespan in dogs by targeting aging. However, the press release from Animal Biosciences is dishonest. This supplement has not been "proven to reverse aging in dogs". That is a lie. The results from the clinical trial suggest potential improvements in cognitive function based on what I would characterize as relatively weak effects from a survey instrument (judge for yourself in attached image from the pre-print). AFAIK, this survey instrument has not been validated for use in this way as a continuous tool. These are encouraging results, although hardly definitive. There was no benefit on activity. You should also know that data presented at several conferences shows that NMN causes kidney damage in aged mice. Personally, I wouldn’t give NMN to my older dog until that question has been resolved. It seems irresponsible to me to put people’s pets at risk for profit. businesswire.com/news/home/2…

My take: Rapamycin is a specific, clean mTOR inhibitor. Metformin is a dirty drug that tweaks the mTOR network indirectly, but hard to predict effects on mTOR or relevance of those effects in vivo. Resveratrol even dirtier, not an effective mTOR inhibitor at any reasonable dose

Let's start using responsible language in the longevity field. Improving an epigenetic risk profile is not "reversing biological aging" any more than improving other biomarkers that correlate with health. The alternative is that "biological aging" becomes meaningless.

The fights worth fighting are always difficult. In this case, we don't need to "win" to have an enormous impact on health and quality of life. A small attenuation of biological aging dwarfs the benefit of curing a single age-related disease like cancer.

People should realize conflict of interest goes way beyond direct financial interest. In academic research, people's grants, tenure, careers, and celebrity are all tied up in selling and amplifying their own work and models, often at the expense of scientific rigor and truth.

Here's a thought. Let's get @bryan_johnson on stage with myself and @BKennedy_aging for an unfiltered and transparent conversation about the real science of longevity, supplements, rapamcyin and whatever else y'all want to hear about. I'll make myself available any time on Friday or Saturday for this.

Seems to me current FDA regulatory framework is irretrievably broken. Status quo almost ensures no new therapies of large benefit. Approval based on arbitrary and inconsistent safety standards & little regard for efficacy. Those who game the system get rich, the rest of us lose

Can't wait! @CharlesMBrenner has graciously agreed to join me on the @OptispanPodcast this week. We'll of course talk NAD and mTOR biology among other topics. Feel free to post any questions or topics you'd like us to hit on in the comments below.

Making the case for a #geroscience moonshot. Please RT and share in your networks. Scientists are demystifying aging — funding could add decades to our lives thehill.com/opinion/healthca…

I agree with @DrMorganLevine here. We need more true experts in longevity to speak out and provide credible counterpoint to the misinformation, pseudoscience and hype. I believe @FitFounder and others are often well-intentioned, but do not sufficiently understand the science behind what they are discussing. Just so we're all clear, improving health is not reversing biological age. These people did not age backwards.

Nailed it. Ignore the noise and focus on the foundation for optimal longevity. My evolving top 5: healthy diet, exercise, sleep, community, happiness. Meds and supplements can play a role after that. NMN doesn't even make the list.

By wary of “influencers” who make bold statements outside of their domain expertise. They are usually too lazy to put in the effort and become informed. Social media rewards that kind of behavior, but people like that don’t care if they cause you harm. You’ll be far better off paying attention to voices of integrity who work hard to be accurate and put appropriate disclaimers in place where there is uncertainty. I know that seems the exception rather than the rule these days, but these folks do exist, and they are the real thought leaders.

Full text of our paper "Evaluation of off-label rapamycin use to promote healthspan in 333 adults" published in @GeroScienceAGE rdcu.be/dcirv Grateful to @impetusgrants for funding this project. @KaeberleinTammi @IsmanAnar @SZalzala @DrBradleyRosen1 @Blagosklonny

Finding a healthier aging trajectory in 2023. Ignore the noise, focus on the foundation. Sleep: alcohol-free New Year’s Eve = slept great Exercise: 🦵 day + cardio Nutrition: only whole foods, plenty of protein Community: day with the family, games and fun Happiness!!!

TRIAD — the Test of Rapamycin in Aging Dogs — is the first-ever veterinary clinical trial focused on slowing aging and extending healthy lifespan in companion dogs. I'm so excited to see dogs completing the trial. This moment has been a long time coming. I first envisioned this project in 2014, and the road since then has had plenty of twists and turns. Through it all, the @dogagingproject team has stayed committed to the mission, and I’m especially grateful to Dr. Kate Creevy at @tamuvetmed for her leadership and perseverance and to the entire TRIAD team. We’re still a few years away from final results once all enrolled dogs are through, but we’re back on track. And just as important, we’ve laid the foundation for future clinical trials — including exciting efforts in the private sector — to build on what we've started. One day, not too far off, I truly believe we’ll have proven therapeutics that can slow biological aging in our beloved dogs — giving them (and us) Longer, Healthier Lives. Together.

I'm often asked if I'm 100% sure low dose rapamycin has zero risks. No! I'm 100% sure it does have risks. As does exercise. As does fasting. As does every other intervention. What's the relative risk/reward ratio for all these things? That's the question you should be asking

Anyone want to check my math? I estimate that a geroprotective drug (you all know the one I'm thinking about) that makes a 75 year old immune system function like a 50 year old would reduce COVID-19 deaths ~90%. Suddenly instead of a global pandemic we have a mild flu season.

More than a month after requesting a meeting with @NIHDirector to discuss the future of the @DogAgingProject , I received a rejection email from her assistant stating that she is too busy. My request included 12,000+ supportive signatures from US citizens. Full text here: --- January 20, 2024 To: Director of the NIH Dr. Monica M. Bertagnolli Re: The Dog Aging Project Dear Dr. Bertagnolli, I am reaching out to request a meeting regarding the Dog Aging Project's future and the critical juncture it faces due to the upcoming cessation of NIH funding. Though I am not currently an NIH-funded investigator nor do I receive financial compensation from the Dog Aging Project, my deep commitment to this initiative compels me to seek your counsel on sustaining its momentum. Since its inception in 2018 through a NIH U19 grant from the National Institute on Aging, the Dog Aging Project has rapidly evolved into the world's largest longitudinal study on aging. In under five years, it has accomplished the following: Engaged close to 50,000 Americans in community-science, biomedical research. Authored dozens of high-impact, peer-reviewed scientific publications. Developed an open-access database containing over 36 million data points. Established an extensive open-access veterinary biobank. Initiated a groundbreaking clinical trial to evaluate a geroscience therapeutic's effect on aging and lifespan. These milestones were all achieved during the project's initial grant cycle, amidst the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The impending end of NIH support in May 2024 threatens the project's continuation. This pivotal moment offers NIH the chance to amplify the project's already significant contributions by reaffirming its support. The transition to longitudinal data collection and the ongoing analysis of comprehensive biological data during the next cycle mark the onset of the project's most promising phase of scientific discovery. Likewise, the completion of the TRIAD clinical trial stands as a crucial benchmark for geroscience. The attached petition, amassing more than 12,000 signatures to date, underscores the public's recognition of the project's value. While I understand that NIH funding decisions are not dictated by public demand, the sheer volume of support highlights the project's societal resonance. I am eager to discuss how we might navigate this challenge and would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with you. I am willing to accommodate your schedule to facilitate this crucial conversation. Thank you for considering this request. I am hopeful for the opportunity to explore avenues that will ensure the Dog Aging Project's continued success. Sincerely, Dr. Matt Kaeberlein

Anyone else feel like the longevity hype dial is perpetually cranked to 11 these days? Billionaire penile shockwave therapy. Pig blood to age backwards. Academics hawking discredited, anti-aging snake oil. Feels like we're getting close to the Peak of Inflated Expectations..

I'm experiencing a significant adverse event from exercise today. Tweaked something in my upper back doing deadlifts, stiffened up overnight, hurts like hell now. Good thing exercise doesn't need FDA approval. You'd never get that dangerous drug through the system

The word "over" is critical here, but as a scientist I struggle a bit with this idea. Controversy in science arises when people disagree on interpretation or data. Progress can be catastrophically derailed if people are afraid to engage in this kind of controversy

Short-lived controls are a major source of false-positive results in mouse lifespan studies. Metformin, nicotinamide riboside, intermittent fasting all suffer from this flaw. This graphic illustrates the problem /2

And it's not even close

An amended press release from Animal Biosciences has been posted with a new quote from @davidasinclair, now claiming that this is "the first supplement shown to reverse the effects of age related decline in dogs". To me, this seems even more problematic than the original quote, as it indicates clear, pre-meditated intent. David had the opportunity to rethink his quote and interpret this pre-print honestly, but instead chose the opposite path. Our field should be better than this @ahlresearch businesswire.com/news/home/2…

Pretty good article in WaPo on rapamycin. I agree with @EricVerdin's comments at the end: “We should not as a field recommend use on people.” He and many other doctors say rapamycin is no substitute for exercise and a healthy diet. “People going on it, using it as a substitute for a healthy lifestyle, it’s a bridge too far for me,” Verdin said. Then he offered a disclosure: He takes rapamycin. washingtonpost.com/business/…

Learned today that a nicotinamide riboside supplement maker (not Chromadex) is targeting authors of a recent paper suggesting possible increased cancer risk from NR. This is bad news for science 1/6

Aching from the loss of my friend and mentor George Martin. Many view George as the godfather of modern aging research, but more importantly, he was one of the best men I've known. I only hope I can live up to his example and do half as much good for the world as he did.

Influential does not equal credible. We need more credible voices in the longevity field, not influencers who spread misinformation

Two weeks later, and I think I'm still processing my experience at @RAADfest this year. First time I attended in person. The scientific content put together by @aubreydegrey was stellar, and I met a lot of really great people. Also had a chance to sit down with Aubrey de Grey and Brian Kennedy for an impromptu discussion that should be out on the @Optispan_Inc podcast next week. AND, there's a bunch of truly bizarre (some *highly questionable*) stuff happening in the longevity ecosystem right now. Should I break the "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" code and talk about it on the @Optispan_Inc Podcast? 🤔

Resveratrol has taught me some useful lessons over the years. Nothing about the biology of aging, but useful lessons nonetheless. For the record, I was not involved in the production of this video, but it's consistent with what I have been saying for the past 16+ years

Save the Dog Aging Project! Please RT and sign the petition to convince @NIHDirector to preserve one of the most important and impactful @NIHAging-funded projects. In only 5 years of funding the @DogAgingProject engaged 50,000 Americans in aging research via the largest longitudinal study of aging in the world. actionnetwork.org/petitions/…

To those who told me that rapamycin - a drug that could actually prevent or reverse Alzheimer's disease - has too many potential side effects, have you looked at the side effect profile of Aduhelm? Mouth sores versus brain swelling and bleeding. Just sayin'... @alzassociation

Ground truth in biology: Your model is wrong. My model is wrong. Models are imperfect representations of reality based on what we think we know today. Our job as scientists is to figure out how they are wrong by experimentation and make them better as we get new data

I'm honored to join @theA4Li Board of Directors. A4Li has already made huge strides toward elevating the longevity movement at the federal level in the United States and is poised to become one of the most impactful organizations in longevity.

Beyond the Hallmarks: What are we missing in ageing research? At the Global Conference on Gerophysics 2025, I posed several uncomfortable—but necessary—questions: 🔹 Why haven't we don better than caloric restriction for lifespan extension in mammals—after 50 years? 🔹 Have the Hallmarks of Aging helped us or narrowed our focus too much? 🔹 Are biological age clocks really measuring anything meaningful—or are we just confusing ourselves and consumers? 🔹 Why has the field largely abandoned discovery science? 🔹 Can AI solve aging without better data? (Short answer: no.) Aging biology is complex. Our tools are improving. But if we want breakthroughs, we need real innovation and must massively expand our data generation efforts into the dark matter of longevity, not more of the same. piped.video/watch?v=hySlWn0f…

Update on efforts to save the @DogAgingProject : I know many have been wondering, and I’ve been relatively quiet recently, so here’s where things stand: The petition to NIH Director has more than 13,000 signatures! This is amazing support, and I'm so grateful to everyone who signed 🐶❤️! It’s not too late to lend your voice: actionnetwork.org/petitions/… I sent a letter to @NIHDirector more than a week ago requesting a meeting with her. So far, I have not gotten a response ☹️ The National Advisory Council on Aging (NACA) met this week to recommend grants for funding by @NIHAging. It is my understanding that Council was not allowed to consider the Dog Aging Project 😡 A non-profit entity has been formed to enable philanthropic support for the project. More on the Dog Aging Institute soon. The institute is accepting donations here: dogaginginstitute.org/ We are working with several organizations and individuals in hopes of securing sufficient funding to keep the project running. Hopefully we’ll have some key partnerships to announce soon and wins to put on the board

This is very cool and a step in the right direction for reprogramming, but to put it in context, back in 2016 male mice treated for 12 wks with rapamycin lived 151 wks (med) and 200 wks (max). This is much smaller than what we can already do with short-term rapamycin treatment.

Basic geroscience research has explored only a tiny fraction (<0.001%) of the total longevity “intervention space”. I'm confident there are large effect size interventions out there that will blow away the things we currently know about. Who will find them?

Huh, I feel like I've been saying exactly this for at least 5 years now... We still don't have anything better than rapamycin as a longevity drug and nothing close to 1990s caloric restriction at all. Would be great to get some real discovery science going to find new, large effect size interventions. Something like... oh I don't know... a million molecule challenge?

Did you make old WT mice young in all ways and double lifespan @davidasinclair? Congrats on a paper & I'm sure there's great data here, but until you've done this, please stop claiming "reversed aging". You're a better scientist than that & it's damaging credibility of the field

Congrats to my friends @TriviumVet on the success of their RAPACAT trial and publication reporting rapamycin halts progression of left ventricular hypertrophy in cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The case for rapamycin just keeps getting stronger avmajournals.avma.org/view/j…

Rocking the classic black rapamycin tee today, courtesy of @realNathanCheng. Thanks Nathan!

This image from the classic Weindruch and Walford "The Retardation of Aging and Disease by Dietary Restriction" comes from an experiment done in the 1980s. Anyone who wants to understand where the field has - and has not - advanced in the past 50 years should read this book. I like to use the absolute median and maximum lifespans of the treated animals here as a metric whenever somebody starts hyping their latest, greatest longevity therapy.

I used this slide when I spoke recently at the @khoslaventures CEO summit @vkhosla . Is our understanding of aging biology similar to the "known world" in 500 BC? Why isn't anyone exploring beyond the edges of the aging world? We need bold solutions: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3743…

I might have to moderate my opinion of @bryan_johnson - this is pretty goddamn funny. Seriously, y'all need to learn how to live life and have some fun once in awhile. It is possible to be healthy and enjoy life at the same time. In fact, I would argue it's essential. You can even splurge every once in awhile and have fun doing it! Last night, my amazing wife and I had an wonderful dinner in Nashville. We finished the meal by sharing a piece of chocolate peanutbutter pie. I had a fantastic time, slept great, and woke up feeling awesome. Now I'm going to hit the hotel gym for a workout before we finish making our way to Blackberry Farms.

Very nice editorial in @NatureAging on the importance of aging in cancer research: nature.com/articles/s43587-0… You could basically write the same editorial for every individual disease of aging.

*what* you eat is FAR MORE IMPORTANT than *when* you eat Ignore the noise and keep your eyes on the prize folks.

Here’s a detailed explanation with sources for my graphic illustrating potential effects of targeting aging with rapamycin in humans. This is based on a *speculative* extrapolation from mice to humans /1

Biological aging and disease risk. Updated now with 2020 data. In case you were still wondering whether COVID-19 is an age-related disease...

IMO, here's an example of high quality media coverage of the longevity space. Need more of this. The Fountain of Youth has long been a dream. Some scientists are testing the waters with drugs that one day could make a dent in our aging process. wsj.com/articles/can-you-fig… via @WSJ

I don’t use metformin, but also don’t see any reason to think it’s more or less risky than berberine. Why are some folks so concerned about off-label metformin use, yet blasé about berberine and other stuff sold without quality control, safety, regulation, or physician guidance?

What doesn’t work in longevity medicine today? Direct to consumer biological age and microbiome tests. Why do I say that? (1) The don’t measure what they claim to measure (2) They provide no information on precision or accuracy (3) There is no industry quality control (4) There is no regulatory validation (5) They are not actionable

This showed up in my email, and I just lost all respect for Thorne as a supplement brand. Peddling the most debunked "anti-aging" molecule in history as an anti-aging molecule... Is there anyone you can trust in the supplement industry?

Grateful for the opportunity to speak about longevity and healthspan at the @a16z Founders Summit today. Was awesome and humbling to be on the same stage as Tom Brady, @Liv_Boeree, @brian_armstrong, @tobi, and several other amazing folks who have accomplished such great things. The overwhelming positive response I received just reinforced for me the huge appetite out there for reasoned, rigorous, and thoughtful communication around longevity. And how sick people are of the hype, noise, and charlatanism. This is a topic that is personal and immensely important to so many. I’m energized and inspired by the experience!

Great story by Fran Smith on aging in @NatGeo. A bit surreal @dguttenfelder came directly from Ukraine to photo me lifting in my garage. Can ageing be cured? Scientists are giving it a try nationalgeographic.co.uk/sci… via @NatGeoUK

Interestingly, CR appears to shorten lifespan in ~1/3 of genetic backgrounds and increase lifespan in ~1/3 of genetic backgrounds in laboratory organisms. True in yeast, flies, and mice. Yet folks have no problem writing books recommending CR/IF/TRF in humans 🤷‍♂️

Belief in the absence of evidence is faith. Some have faith we are close to "solving aging" or LEV, but that's not science. The real data suggest we are not getting closer to extreme longevity. IMHO, we need new solutions and big ideas, not faith: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3743…

"Aging: Separating the Science from the Snake Oil" is available now: genengnews.com/resources/gen… @julemieux1 @GENbio Rich Miller and I riff with filters off on a range of topics including -aging clocks -hallmarks of aging -rapamycin -resveratrol -stem cells -telomeres

Today's Longevity Myth: Resveratrol is a longevity molecule You knew this one was coming, right? It's hard for me to believe how many people still think resveratrol is a longevity supplement. The scientific community moved on more than a decade ago, but some high profile influencers and supplement companies still peddle misinformation about resveratrol. Could it have some benefits for some people at some dose? Sure, that's impossible to rule out. Is it a longevity molecule? Definitively NO. instagram.com/p/DKfA5lYx-c-/

Biological age is the greatest risk factor for most causes of death and disability in the U.S. Yet, only 0.6% of NIH research spending was allocated toward this modifiable risk factor in 2023. @theA4LI, let's get the longevity caucus moving on this

A big win for #geroscience. Clickbait headline aside, this illustrates the growing momentum toward 21st Century Medicine. Many more big initiatives coming soon I expect! Meet Altos Labs, Silicon Valley’s latest wild bet on living forever technologyreview.com/2021/09…

If we define healthspan as "years free from chronic disease/disability" it seems obvious average healthspan has decreased over the past 50 years. Biggest culprits IMO: food industry and reactive disease care industry. Has anyone quantified this?

Intermittent fasting appears to be more immune suppressive than rapamycin. And yes, nearly all DR studies in mice are IF. For those who want to argue rapamycin is "dangerous" while fasting is "safe", perhaps something to consider. lifespan.io/news/rapamycin-n…

What's so confusing? Caloric restriction works for losing weight. CR + TRF/IF appears no better, no worse. Real confusion is around TRF/IF without CR, falsely sold to the public as a proven anti-aging/health-promoting regimen, with no consideration of harm @hubermanlab