Methuselah Foundation Newsletter
The latest Methuselah Foundation newsletter is available, including a progress report on Methuselah Foundation Undergraduate Research Initiative (MFURI), and an interesting overview of anti-cancer OncoSENS and telomere research: "Cancer is one of the leading causes of death and thus one of the key targets of SENS. Our approach aims to tackle cancer by making it impossible for tumor cells to become immortal, rendering them harmless. Telomeres, the ends of chromosomes, play a key role in this process; specifically, we want to prevent them from being lengthened - a precondition of cellular immortality. In humans two mechanisms of telomere lengthening exist, of which the telomerase enzyme is the most well known; in my work, I focus on the less understood form called 'alternative lengthening of telomeres' (ALT). ... In the near future, I see OncoSENS taking two main directions; understanding ALT and - at first independently, but later in conjunction with that - providing a proof-of-principle in mice that telomerase-deficient stem cells can be successfully transplanted and largely prevent the emergence of malignant tumors."
Link: http://blog.methuselahfoundation.org/2008/12/methuselah_foundation_newslett_2.html