LEVF, HLI partner to unlock insights into healthy aging by studying the “oldest old”

Aubrey de Grey’s LEV Foundation is taking on a new course to unlock insights into healthy aging by studying older people. de Grey is the knowledge source behind DeSci project, Aubrai. 

In the announcement Thursday, LEVF said it’s partnering with Human Longevity, Inc. to decode why individuals age at different rates, a question it believes will inform the development of interventions that can slow down aging and improve quality of life for the global population.

“There is so much to be learned from the oldest old,” says Aubrey

Using Human Longevity’s AI-driven precision longevity technologies, both organizations plan to conduct an in-depth study of blood samples from centenarians and supercentenarians, which refers to people aged between 100+ and 110+, respectively.

“These rare populations represent a unique biological resource,” the announcement reads, adding that their blood samples contain vital bio-data that could tell why some people age more slowly and remain in better health than others.

The goal of the study, which will be led by Natalie S. Coles-de Grey at Human Longevity, is basically cracking the secret to the variability of aging among this select group.

“There is so much to be learned, from the oldest old in our society, that will refine the preventative medicine for the chronic conditions of late life that HLI has pioneered,” Aubrey de Grey wrote.

In a post on LinkedIn, Coles said the study makes Human Longevity one of the first longevity clinics that will be able to directly apply the knowledge to its patients, “something that no one else can really offer at the moment.”

Aubrey de Grey is powering VitaDAO’s Aubrai

Aubrey de Grey is one of the most popular names in the longevity research field. He’s also the knowledge source for the DeSci project, Aubrai. 

Aubrai is an on-chain AI agent that can generate and validate hypotheses, including designing wet-lab experiments in longevity science, based on thousands of unpublished lab notes, internal chats, and insights from Dr. de Grey. The AI agent was developed by VitaDAO and Bio protocol. 

Through Aubrai, these firms are able to crowdsource funding for longevity research. Speaking on this, de Grey said: “The consequences of traditional financing are a chronic funding gap, over-reliance on philanthropy, and a ‘valley of death’ between discovery and the clinic.”

That’s why we champion alternative mechanisms – DAOs, longevity-focused venture funds, and DeSci platforms – which can tolerate long horizons, align incentives around societal benefit, and crowd-source risk,” de Grey told CoinDesk in December.

Longevity research is increasingly becoming a big part of DeSci. Even crypto founders are heavily invested in the course, including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who co-founded NewLimit and ResearchHub.

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