Category Archives: Human Longevity

UCI-Brookhaven study finds genetic tie to personality traits influencing healthy aging

Irvine, Calif., Jan. 3, 2013 A variant of a gene associated with active personality traits in humans seems to also be involved with living a longer life, UC Irvine and other researchers have found.

This derivative of a dopamine-receptor gene called the DRD4 7R allele appears in significantly higher rates in people more than 90 years old and is linked to lifespan increases in mouse studies.

Robert Moyzis, professor of biological chemistry at UC Irvine, and Dr. Nora Volkow, a psychiatrist who conducts research at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and also directs the National Institute on Drug Abuse, led a research effort that included data from the UC Irvine-led 90+ Study in Laguna Woods, Calif. Results appear online in The Journal of Neuroscience.

The variant gene is part of the dopamine system, which facilitates the transmission of signals among neurons and plays a major role in the brain network responsible for attention and reward-driven learning. The DRD4 7R allele blunts dopamine signaling, which enhances individuals reactivity to their environment.

People who carry this variant gene, Moyzis said, seem to be more motivated to pursue social, intellectual and physical activities. The variant is also linked to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and addictive and risky behaviors.

While the genetic variant may not directly influence longevity, Moyzis said, it is associated with personality traits that have been shown to be important for living a longer, healthier life. Its been well documented that the more youre involved with social and physical activities, the more likely youll live longer. It could be as simple as that.

Numerous studies including a number from the 90+ Study have confirmed that being active is important for successful aging, and it may deter the advancement of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimers.

Prior molecular evolutionary research led by Moyzis and Chuansheng Chen, UC Irvine professor of psychology & social behavior, indicated that this longevity allele was selected for during the nomadic out-of-Africa human exodus more than 30,000 years ago.

In the new study, the UC Irvine team analyzed genetic samples from 310 participants in the 90+ Study. This oldest-old population had a 66 percent increase in individuals carrying the variant relative to a control group of 2,902 people between the ages of 7 and 45. The presence of the variant also was strongly correlated with higher levels of physical activity.

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SAN DIEGO, April 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI), the genomic-driven health information technology company, today announced that the company has received certification under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA). Under the "deemed status" provision of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the state of California has granted the company's initial CLIA clinical laboratory license.

"Thanks to the hard work of our laboratory team, including Arthur Baca, M.D. Ph.D. and William Biggs, Ph.D., we have completed this important regulatory milestone for HLI," said J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., HLI CEO and Co-Founder. Dr. Baca serves as HLI's CLIA Laboratory Director and has held leadership roles at several CLIA-Certified/CAP-Accredited clinical laboratories. As Head of HLI's Genomic Sequencing, Dr. Biggs oversees the largest human genomic sequencing facility in the world.

HLI has set out to integrate whole genome sequence data with extensive and unique clinical measures and imaging within the HLI Knowledgebase.The combined high quality, comprehensive data will continue to enrich the HLI Knowledgebase, which includes the company's proprietary informatics analysis and data interpretation and integration.The Knowledgebase forms the core of HLI's business. The company is pursuing agreements with a variety of customers including pharmaceutical and biotech companies, academic health systems, governments and insurers.

The CLIA regulations include federal standards applicable to all U.S. facilities or sites that test human specimens for health assessment or to diagnose, prevent, or treat disease. CMS regulates this testing in the United States through the CLIA. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in partnership with CMS and FDA, supports the CLIA program and clinical laboratory quality.

About Human Longevity, Inc.HLI, a privately held company headquartered in San Diego, CA was founded in 2013 by pioneers in the fields of genomics and stem cell therapy. Using advances in genomic sequencing, the human microbiome, proteomics, informatics, computing, and cell therapy technologies, HLI is building the world's most comprehensive database of human genotypes and phenotypes as a basis for a variety of commercialization opportunities to help solve aging related disease and human biological decline. HLI will be licensing access to its database, and developing new diagnostics and therapeutics as part of their product offerings. For more information please visitwww.humanlongevity.com.

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Purpose

The longevity pay plan recognizes and expresses the Universitys appreciation for the long-term service of permanent SPA employees, both full-time and part-time (regularly scheduled to work 20 hours or more each work week) who have completed at least 10 years of Total State Service.

Longevity pay (full or pro-rata) is based on Total State Service and is computed as a percentage of the employees base annual salary at the date of eligibility.

A break in service as a result of leave without pay delays the payment for longevity by the months represented by the non-pay status. (Workers compensation leave and military leave do not represent breaks in service.)

Service toward longevity is credited for each month in which an employee is in pay status for one-half or more of the regularly scheduled work days and paid holidays in the month. Credit also is given for:

Longevity is paid annually. The amount is computed by multiplying the eligible employees base annual salary by the appropriate percentage (see table below) and is rounded to the nearest dollar:

Years of Total State Service Longevity Pay Percent

10 but less than 15 years 1.50

15 but less than 20 years 2.25

20 but less than 25 years 3.25

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SAN DIEGO, July 8, 2015

SAN DIEGO, July8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Human Longevity, Inc.(HLI), the genomics based, technology driven company, announced today that Kurt Oreshack has been hired as General Counsel. With degrees in law and philosophy with a focus on medical ethics, Oreshack brings years of experience as a corporate and securities attorney to help guide HLI's pioneering healthcare work.

Most recently, at Gunderson Dettmer LLP, Oreshack served as external General Counsel to over 100 private and public emerging growth companies in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, cleantech and software industries. Human Longevity, Inc. has been working with Gunderson since the company's inception in March 2014, and Oreshack has been the point person for this work.

Oreshack is a Capital Markets expert, who has structured and negotiated hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and equity investments in private and public company clients. He has guided clients through all phases of IPO preparation and execution, and public company reporting and compliance. He has also led M&A teams in billions of dollars of transactions, representing both acquirors and acquisition targets.

"Kurt joins our team at an exciting time, as we are working to revolutionize the practice of medicine and enable pharmaceutical companies, insurers and healthcare providers to impact and improve health," said Dr. J. Craig Venter, Co-Founder and CEO of Human Longevity, Inc. "I'm thrilled to have Kurt's expertise, insight and leadership on our strong team of bio-informatics, science, medical and technology innovators."

Oreshack started his career at Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP (now Dentons), where he served as Securities counsel for over $3 billion in public offerings and private placements. Oreshack graduated cum Laude from Notre Dame Law School, where he was Production Editor of the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy. He graduated Magna cum Laude from Loyola University Chicago.

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LA JOLLA, Calif. and CLEVELAND, May14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Human Longevity, Inc.(HLI)and Cleveland Clinic today announced a broad collaboration agreement to first sequence and analyze blood samples from Cleveland Clinic's GeneBank study of de-identified patients.

The two organizations will apply whole genome, cancer and microbiome sequencing focusing on a subset of samples with the goal of discovering novel disease genes and disease pathways associated with heart disease.

"Cleveland Clinic is one of the premier clinical health care settings in the world and we are excited to be working with Dr. Cosgrove and his team. Using HLI's powerful genomic technologies and analysis tools to better understand the biological basis for disease should enable earlier intervention and better treatments," said J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., CEO of HLI.

"In medicine we are constantly exploring opportunities to better understand how diseases develop and what we can do to either prevent or provide the most impactful and effective course of treatment," said Toby Cosgrove, M.D., President and CEO of Cleveland Clinic. "We are thrilled to be advancing the correlation of genomic data with clinical care."

HLI is currently sequencing and analyzingthousands of whole genomesper month.The company is integrating this whole genome sequence data with extensive and unique clinical measures and imaging within the HLI Knowledgebase. The combined high quality, comprehensive data will continue to enrich the HLI Knowledgebase, which includes the company's proprietary informatics analysis and data interpretation and integration. The company is pursuing agreements with a variety of customers including pharmaceutical and biotech companies, academic health systems, governments and insurers.

About Human Longevity, Inc.HLI, a privately held company headquartered in San Diego, CA was founded in 2013 by pioneers in the fields of genomics and stem cell therapy. Using advances in genomic sequencing, the human microbiome, proteomics, informatics, computing, and cell therapy technologies, HLI is building the world's most comprehensive database of human genotypes and phenotypes as a basis for a variety of commercialization opportunities to help solve aging related disease and human biological decline. HLI will be licensing access to its database, and developing new diagnostics and therapeutics as part of their product offerings. For more information please visit, http://www.humanlongevity.com

About Cleveland ClinicCleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S. News & World Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation's best hospitals in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey. More than 3,000 full-time salaried physicians and researchers and 11,000 nurses represent 120 medical specialties and subspecialties. The Cleveland Clinic health system includes a main campus near downtown Cleveland, eight community hospitals, more than 75 Northern Ohio outpatient locations, including 16 full-service Family Health Centers, Cleveland Clinic Florida, the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and, scheduled to begin seeing patients in 2015, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. In 2013, there were 5.5 million outpatient visits throughout the Cleveland Clinic health system and 157,000 hospital admissions. Patients came for treatment from every state and from more than 130 countries. Visit us at http://www.clevelandclinic.org.Follow us at http://www.twitter.com/ClevelandClinic.

Editor's Note: Cleveland Clinic News Service is available to provide broadcast-quality interviews and B-roll upon request.

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Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI) is a genomics and cell therapy company focused on extending the healthy, high performance human lifespan. Led by a world-class team of scientific and medical visionaries, HLIs mission is to identify the therapeutically targetable mechanisms responsible for age-related human biological decline and to apply this intelligence to develop innovative solutions to interrupt or block those processes, meaningfully extending the human lifespan.

We are building a database of genotype and phenotype information together with data mining infrastructure, on a scale that has not ever been done before. We are trying to tackle some of the most vexing diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes. We are blazing a new trail in science, medicine and research and we need people who, like us, want to change the world. Our founders, along with our scientific and medical teams are impatient for the healthcare of the future. That is why we are working to change the way medicine is practiced through our genomic-focused, preventive model.

We are seeking world-class people who share our passion and want to play an integral role in executing the companys vision. If you are dynamic, innovative, creative, intelligent, and resourceful, consider joining our quest to improve the state of healthcare in the world today.

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Human Longevity, Inc. | LinkedIn

Monroe, LA (PRWEB) April 14, 2015

Northeast Delta Human Services Authority (NE Delta HSA) hosted its annual Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Services Public Forum today with Louisiana DHH officials. NE Delta HSA Executive Director Dr. Monteic A. Sizer welcomed guests and led a dialogue that enabled healthcare providers and other attendees to voice some of the greatest concerns and issues our region faces.

Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Assistant Secretary/Medical Director, Dr. Rochelle Head-Dunham, MC, FAPA, updated guests in regard to the upcoming fiscal year 2016 transition to the Bayou Health Managed Care Organizations (MCO) model, which goes into effect on December 1, 2015. We will all have to do business much differently to expand services to our population, she said. Our goal is to not only meet our citizens needs, but also improve their health outcomes by decreasing morbidity and mortality and increase longevity.

Were working with DHH to effectively navigate this transitional period, making sure our clients are not lost, said Dr. Sizer. Were seeking to build a stronger network which is being delivered every step of the way with our three tenets: greater access to services, delivered by quality, competent providers with excellent customer service.

Additionally, we are seeking to establish new service agreements with all five Bayou Health Plan organizations in an effort to maximize service opportunities for our clients, said Dr. Sizer. But most importantly, we will strive to utilize innovation and collaboration to ensure that our citizens health will prosper across our region.

NE Delta HSA Director of Clinic Services, Martha Phillips and Regional Prevention Coordinator Jean Hartzog presented the State of the Region by explaining substance abuse, addiction and prevention services available to citizens.

Avius Carroll-Zimmerman, NE Delta HSA Research & Development, gave the attendees an update about NE Delta HSAs Primary and Behavioral Health Integration Model, which is centered around regional partnerships with primary care organizations and hospitals to provide integrated behavioral and primary healthcare services.

At the conclusion of the presentation, Forum attendees had the opportunity ask questions about how changes in statewide healthcare will affect the way they serve consumers.

NE Delta HSA administers its Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant (SABG) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the federal agency that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation.

To see photos from the Public Forum on our Facebook page, click here.

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Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com @BednarChuck

From legends of the Fountain of Youth to classic comedy skits about people who have lived for more than two millennia, age has long captured the imagination of people all over the world who wonder just how far science may one day be able to stretch the limits of longevity.

Following last weeks death of 116-year-old Arkansas native Gertrude Weaver (who briefly was the worlds oldest living person), Discovery News posed the question, given new kinds of drugs and technology, can we push the limits of human lifespan beyond 130, to even 200 years?

Technology might keep us alive for even 1,000 years

According to the website, Aubrey de Grey, editor-in-chief of the academic journal Rejuvenation Research and Chief Science Officer of the SENS Research Foundation, claims that by finding a cure for a handful of diseases and developing new treatments for aging, we could one day wind up with humans who live for upwards of 1,000 years.

De Grey, who received his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Cambridge and who is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the American Aging Association, and his SENS colleagues explain on their website that they not only fund studies on aging, but also conduct experiments of their own at their California-based research center, fund researchers through educational grants, and host conferences to discuss medical issues.

SENS explains that its goal is to address the cellular and molecular damage to a persons body that is responsible for aging without altering the metabolism. Instead, the group said that it is seeking new therapies that target and repair this damage treatments that apply techniques from regenerative medicine to the damage of aging called rejuvenation biotechnologies.

Age-related research projects: are they worth it?

However, as Discovery News pointed out, SENS is not the only organization looking to find the scientific equivalent to the Fountain of Youth. Dr. Joon Yun, a board-certified radiologist and the managing partner and president of investment management firm Palo Alto Investors, LLC, has recently offered a $1 million dollar prize to scientists who can reverse the aging process.

Similarly, Google launched a research division known as Calico Labs last year to study ways to slow the aging process and to combat age-related diseases. In March, that company reached a four-year deal with the University of Californias QB3 biotech institute to conduct research into longevity and age-related diseases. The goal, Calico said in a statement, was to better understand the biology of aging and to develop new therapies for treating age-related diseases.

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Will we ever see a 200-year-old human?

Four years of armed conflict, economic disintegration and social fragmentation in Syria have hollowed out its population by 15 percent, forced some 10 million people to flee their homes and reduced life expectancy by two decades, from nearly 76 years of age to 56, according to a United Nations-backed report released on Monday on the "catastrophic" impact of the conflict.

The report is produced by the Syrian Centre for Policy Research with the support of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

"Measured in terms of human development capacity and choices, the [Human Development Index] HDI value of Syria degraded by 32.6 per cent since 2010, falling from just below a middle ranking position to 173rd position of 187 countries," it said.

Syria has become a country of poor people, with an estimated 4 in every 5 Syrians now living in poverty, 30 percent of the population having descended into abject poverty, according to the report.

The report details the tragic context facing all people in Syria, including the lives of Palestine refugees that have not been spared the trauma, UNRWA says, noting that the agency delivers humanitarian aid to 460,000 refugees who are wholly dependent on it to help them meet minimum daily needs.

During the last four years, more than 10 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes and neighbourhoods because of violence, fear, intimidation and homelessness.

"The population of Syria was hollowed out by 15 percent as 3.33 million Syrians fled as refugees to other countries, together with a 1.55 million persons who migrated to find work and a safer life elsewhere," the report explained.

It added, "Within the remaining population of Syria, some 6.80 million people had been internally displaced."

The report drew attention to "the appalling loss of life," as the death toll increased in the past year reached 210,000 persons. And together with the 840,000 people who were wounded, 6 per cent of the population were killed, maimed or wounded during the conflict, it said.

"Equally horrendous is the silent disaster that has reduced life expectancy at birth from 75.9 years in 2010 to an estimated 55.7 years at the end of 2014, reducing longevity and life expectancy by 27 per cent," the report noted.

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Crushing impact of conflict in Syria on people: UN reports

When 116-year-old Gertrude Weaver died of pneumonia this week in Arkansas, she had held the title of worlds oldest person for all of five days. And she was still a bit younger than 122-year-old Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who passed away in 1979 and holds the record for oldest human.

Do the genes of super-seniors like Weaver and Calment hold the key to living longer? Given new kinds of drugs and technology, can we push the limits of human lifespan beyond 130, to even 200 years?

Futurists like Aubrey DeGrey have said that eliminating just a few diseases and coming up with new treatments for aging could lead to 1,000-year-old humans. DeGrey, who has been pushing his ideas on rejuvenation and life-extension, has gotten some deep-pocketed company in the past year.

California hedge fund manager Joon Yun proposed a $1 million Palo Alto Longevity Prize to kickstart research into extending the life of lab mice by 50 percent. So far, 15 teams have signed up for the contest, which begins June 15.

In 2014, Google announced a spinoff called Calico to research interventions to slow aging and counteract age-related diseases, while former human genome researcher Craig Ventner has created a new firm called Human Longevity, Inc. to sequence the databases of super-oldsters like Weaver and hack the genetic code that keeps us living longer.

But other scientists say that no amount of money can push the human body past its limits. They believe that good lifestyle habits can extend our lives, but not radically change our natural human lifespan.

Should the goal be to get a few people to 130, or is there a more achievable goal of getting a hugely larger number of people living much greater portions of their lives in good health? asks Thomas Perls, professor of medicine and geriatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine.

Perls is director of the New England Centenarian study at Boston Medical Center, which is looking at the genes of people who live longer than 100 years, as well as those super-centenarians who live longer than 110 years. Hes found several genes that may hold the key to fending off diseases of aging, but the puzzle still hasnt been solved.

We have got to understand why these people age so much more slowly than the rest of us, Perls said.

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Will Humans Ever Live 200 Years?