Personal choice and actions on life extension and genetic engineering for cognitive, performance enhancement of life extension

Genome sequencing costs are dropping below $1000 and heading to $10 per genome.

Here is a corrected version of information from George Church

George Church, a researcher at Harvard University and a proponents of CRISPR, says that, considering the lack of clear regulatory frameworks for genetic engineering use, we must expect those interested in genetic augmentation to use the tool.

Church noted in a speech Tuesday that athletes and others interested in body augmentation have already taken advantage of just about every technology we’ve developed. Those in the transhumanist movement (many of whom are seeking immortality, or at the very least a long extension of natural human lifespans) see CRISPR as a potential tool they could use to augment themselves.

Genetic modification of sperm has been done with 100% accuracy in animals.

Corrected slide human genome sequencing

In September, 2016, Veritas Genetics announced that the company is making it possible for participants in the Personal Genome Project (PGP) to be among the first to get their whole genome sequenced and interpreted for less than a $1,000. Led by Veritas Genetics Co-Founder Dr. George Church, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Personal Genome Project, PGP is a long-term effort to sequence thousands of complete genomes to enable research into personal genomics and personalized medicine. PGP has more than 16,000 participants worldwide.

Currently it appears that their are a lot of side effect negative epigenomic changes being passed down via lifestyle of parents. Obesity and smoking cause epigenomic changes.

Controlled enhancement

Those interested in enhancement are gung-ho about experimenting on themselves. There are athletes who take stem cell injections to get over injury faster; Silicon Valley types who use nootropics and other “smart drugs” not approved by the Food and Drug Administration to potentially increase their brain function; and people who try things like transcranial direct current stimulation, which uses low electrical currents applied to the head to stimulate neuron function.

About ten million people worldwide use steroids. Most of them are not competing in pro sports and do it for appearance or just the desire for greater strength and performace. There are millions that inject poison (Botox) into their face to smooth wrinkles.

When it comes to people using CRISPR to augment themselves or their children, “some people say ‘I can’t imagine it happening’ And George Church says, ‘You have to imagine it happening.’”

Church and some others who work with CRISPR believe that it’s already safe enough for additional research in humans, but, in the only known test of the technology on human embryos, CRISPR was largely ineffective in editing the desired genes. A breakthrough announced earlier this week enhances CRISPR’s accuracy and may be key to future human studies. As those eventual studies are conducted and as the technology becomes more consistent, Church believes somatic gene therapies, which target adult body cells (and could in theory be used by adults to alter themselves) will inevitably come next.

“Enhancement will creep in the door,” Church said. “The point is that [human enhancements] will come after very serious diseases and they will be spread by somatic gene therapies.”

Metformin is an antidiabetic drug which might have life extension properties and is now available without prescription in the Canary Islands

Kern Pharma’s in the Canary Islands is apparently offering Metformin without prescription. There are doctors and researchers who have chosen to personally get into Metformin and other antiaging medications.

The most common adverse effect of metformin is gastrointestinal irritation, including diarrhea, cramps, nausea, vomiting, and increased flatulence; metformin is more commonly associated with gastrointestinal side effects than most other antidiabetic drugs. The most serious potential side effect of metformin use is lactic acidosis; this complication is very rare, and the vast majority of these cases seem to be related to comorbid conditions, such as impaired liver or kidney function, rather than to the metformin itself.

Metformin has also been reported to decrease the blood levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone in people with hypothyroidism, The clinical significance of this is still unknown.

Millions are ordering Viagra and Cialis from overseas Pharmacies for enhanced sexual performance or overcome erectile dysfunction.

Researchers will begin testing Metformin, a medication used to treat diabetes, as an anti-aging drug in a clinical trial next year.

When it’s used for treatment for type 2 diabetes, the drug reduces the amount of glucose produced in the liver, but researchers believe that it may also have the ability to slow down the aging process in individual cells by increasing oxygen released into each cell.

Reducing the biological effects of aging would mean the possibility of increasing lifespans, staving off aging-related diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and perhaps allowing humans to live into their 110s or 120s, the research suggests.