Genescient Will Have will have Nutrigenomic Products, fully lab tested, by end of 2009

Gregory Benford will be presenting an update of Genescient’s work at the Singularity Summit in New York on October 3rd and 4th, 2009.

Our laboratory animals live for 5 times the normal lifespan. They have health and vigor. We use their genetic properties to find what works similarly in humans.

Genescient applies 21st century genomic technology to identify, screen and develop benign therapeutic substances to defeat the diseases of aging. Genescient’s singular approach addresses the complex genomic networks that underlie aging and aging-associated diseases such as cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases. We will have nutrigenomic products, fully lab tested, by end of 2009

Genescient has released a research paper detailing their study of two common stimulants (caffeine and the stimulant in chocolate) and two common sedatives (valproic acid and lithium).

Genescient has found that caffeine consistently impaired mating success in experiments. By contrast, at normal doses theobromine (the chief stimulant in chocolate) was benign. Worse still, caffeine impaired survival and female reproduction. Again, theobromine proved relatively benign for survival and reproduction.

Genescient corporate overview

Our focus is to extend healthy human lifespan by using advanced genomics to develop therapeutic substances that attack the diseases of aging. We are the first company founded to exploit artificial selection of animal models for longevity.

Our extremely long-lived animal models (Drosophila melanogaster) have been developed over 700 generations. They are an ideal system for the study of aging and age-related disease because Drosophila metabolic genetic pathways that are highly conserved in humans.

Our sophisticated analysis cross-links gene function in Drosophila with their human orthologs, thus revealing the targets for therapeutic substance development. To date we have discovered over 100 of these genomic targets, all related to the primary diseases of aging.

This large library of targets, enables Genescient to effectively select and test therapeutic drug candidates. To date, Genescient’s “proof-of-concept” testing program has yielded a number of very promising therapeutic substances.

Genescient’s screening platform also enables us to partner with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to test and rapidly move forward promising drug candidates. In an era where drug failure at a late clinical trial phase can cost a company hundreds of millions of dollars, Genescient’s unparalleled screening technology helps pharmaceutical companies to rapidly eliminate poor candidates.