[ExI] Open Cures

Reason reason at fightaging.org
Tue May 24 01:54:03 UTC 2011


This may be of interest to those on the list who haven't heard it from me
already: I have emerged from my monomaniacal focus on Fight Aging! to launch
a new open, volunteer initiative for longevity science called Open Cures. 

 

https://www.opencures.org/

 

We're looking for (a) volunteers who can help with the avalanche of
organizational needs and (b) life scientists / biotechnologists willing to
write for freelance rates - most likely graduate and post-graduate students,
given that freelance writing rates are a bare single step away from not
getting paid at all. 

 

You can read more about the background that prompted the formation of Open
Cures here:

 

https://www.opencures.org/about

 

And I should note that we're posting bounties on particular pieces of
writing at the moment - there will be more beyond those already listed, so
if you happen to know life science students at an appropriate level to work
on these, and with enough ramen in their kitchen to consider it a good deal,
please do point them towards Open Cures:

 

https://www.opencures.org/bounties

 

There's also a Google Group should any of you want to stop by and chat or
offer advice - and I'm happy to answer questions.

 

https://groups.google.com/group/opencures


Reason

 

----------------

 

 

- More than a dozen ways to extend life in mice have been demonstrated in
laboratories

 

- Yet the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) forbids commercial therapies
for aging

 

- Thus the best biotechnologies for human longevity languish, undeveloped...

 

- But this is a shrinking world, linked by the internet and medical tourism

 

- Advanced, safe clinical development takes place in many countries

 

- We can work around the FDA, and this is how it will be done

 

Looking at the future of commercial medical development and rejuvenation
biotechnology, it seems clear that something has to be done. The present
state of affairs with respect to regulation of research and commercial
development of biotechnologies in the US has forced to the sidelines any
number of lines of research aimed at intervening in the aging process. These
nascent biotechnologies, demonstrated on mice, cannot cost-effectively be
commercially developed in the US - or cannot be developed at all, since the
FDA will not approve treatments for aging. That fact is well known and has
the predictable effect on the number of investors willing to pony up for the
privilege of running into a brick wall.

 

Outside the US there are a number of developed nations which in which
commercial medical development is less regulated. China for example - and US
citizens of a certain age will no doubt feel sad that we can now point to
modern day China as an example of comparative freedom in human endeavor. Not
sad for the Chinese, but sad for us. Other nations in that part of the world
are similarly more open than the US when it comes to commercial development
of new medical technology: even India, despite its bureaucracy.

 

When we look to the future of commercial longevity-enhancing medical
technologies - or indeed any cutting edge biotechnology - I think that we
are looking at the process of building a bridge between the less restricted
parts of the world and the output of the US research community. That bridge
is forged of medical tourism, venture investment, and a flow of knowledge.
Without it, little will be developed: there must be an outlet for new
science to become new technology, and that outlet is being progressively
narrowed in the US with each passing year.

 

We don't need to do anything about medical tourism or venture investment, as
those fields are quite capable of looking after themselves and are growing
rapidly, but where we are needed is to help build that flow of knowledge
between regions. If we want to see real results in the clinic, we must
establish a bridge between the potential longevity-enhancing technologies
that have been demonstrated in the laboratory - but can never be fully
realized in the US - and the developers half a world away who are free to
translate the fruits of research into clinical application. This is a matter
of documentation, of building relationships, and of pulling out the most
interesting technology demonstrations into the light - as despite this
shrinking world, it is still far from the case that researchers on opposite
sides of the globe have a good view into what has and hasn't been
accomplished.

 

There is a great that might be done to help this large-scale process along,
especially now that we are moving in earnest into an age of open
biotechnology. The impetus, as in software development, will be towards
openly shared knowledge and designs, because the economic advantages are
enormous. Accompanying this shift we will see an accelerating growth of the
present community of lab collectives, semi-professional developers, and
hobbyists in biotechnology. They already exist in the form of the , but that
is just the earliest manifestation of what is to come, more akin to the
Homebrew Computer Club of the 1970s that spawned computing hardware
companies and the rampant growth that followed.

 

There is a wave coming, a vast growth in medical tourism and open
development in biotechnology. We can help that wave form, and ride it to
achieve our goals as it arrives.

 

All this considered, and the need for action very clear, I decided to launch
Open Cures as a volunteer initiative, an open collaboration for everyone
interested in accelerating the clinical development of the best longevity
science demonstrated in laboratories. Our initial focus is on establishing
the organizational basics and producing a good, open-access Creative Commons
body of work that explains exactly how to carry out a range of
biotechnologies shown to extend life or reverse specific biological aspects
of aging in laboratory animals.

 

To that end, Open Cures patrons, starting with myself, are offering bounties
on documentation outlines: if you are a life science graduate or
post-graduate level student or an interested volunteer with a good knowledge
of the field, I encourage you to drop by the Open Cures discussion group and
introduce yourself.

 

"Bounties are funded by Open Cures patrons as a way of speeding up work and
attracting new volunteers to the initiative. At the present time, bounties
focus on documentation needs: each award is made to the writer who first
posts sufficiently good material to the Open Cures discussion group. Writers
should expect some back and forth, questions asked, and friendly
conversation when they do so. The bounty is then awarded when the writer
releases their posted work under an open license; until that time, he or she
retains copyright.

 

"The primary purpose of awarding bounties is to discover good life science
freelance writers, and who can therefore be paid a modest rate to produce
further work on an ongoing, occasional basis. It is important to build
lasting relationships with enthusiastic freelance writers who know the ins
and outs of practical biotechnology - so when you submit good work that
arrives too late to win a specific bounty, or is beaten out by another
author, you are still a candidate for future writing projects."

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20110523/04c43e0e/attachment.html>


More information about the extropy-chat mailing list