By way of a reminder, the Methuselah Foundation recently set up a forum accessible to the public; if you'd like to hobnob with the researchers and volunteers presently working on Foundation science projects, or discuss the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence and other directions for near-future longevity research, then this is the place to be.

See, for example, a posted overview of the MitoSENS project, and thoughts on RAGES and bioremediation:

When trying to bioremediate AGE crosslinks from aged tissues, a major concern would be that the crosslink might be buried by the protein fibers it crosslinks, so that the bioremediation enzymes might be unable to access it. The utility of using enzymes to bioremediate AGEs has been questioned based on this (Furber, 2006).

I think a partial objection is provided by the existence of receptors of AGEs (RAGEs). RAGEs are large, even cell-bound signaling proteins that recognize AGEs. Thus, any AGE accessible for the AGE-RAGE interaction should also be accessible to a bioremediation enzyme.

LysoSENS is the first strand of bioremediation research funded by Methuselah Foundation donors; a search for bacterial enzymes capable of safely digesting one set of the damaging chemical junk that builds up in our cells over a lifetime. The term bioremediation has traditionally applied to environmental issues, but it is just as applicable to our biochemistry. Obviously, the LysoSENS folk have ambitious thoughts about future work - good for them. Given that bacteria can digest all of the human body after death, there should be a bacterial enzyme out there somewhere for any given harmful organic chemical you'd like to get rid of.

Technorati tags: biotechnology, forum, SENS