TN50 #42, Zombies @The Cellular Level, 18 October 2021

Hi Team,

Happy Monday and welcome to The Next 50 #42.

WHAT IF as we age certain cells in our body didn’t die like normal cells do at the end of their usefulness, and instead became Zombie Cells that refused to die and began killing the healthy cells in their immediate surroundings.  What if the accumulation of these Zombie Cells play a role in the onset of all the chronic diseases we deal with?  Things like:

  1. Dementia
  2. Cancer
  3. Atherosclerosis
  4. Diabetes
  5. Arthritis

OK, so some of you know that I am talking about senescent cells (aka Zombie Cells) and that the real “WHAT IF” is:

WHAT IF there was a way to degrade the senescent cells that accumulate in our body?

Ya man, a Counter Zombie (CZ) Force that could go in and conduct kill missions on the zombie cells and do so with surgical precision, minimizing collateral damage (think Army SOF here). The existence of such a CZ Force could allow us to maintain a much higher quality of life in our later years.

Ok, here is the third and last “WHAT IF” of TN50 #42,

WHAT IF I could link you to a podcast episode that updates you on a lot of what we know about Zombie Cells (senescent cells) and the CZ Force (senolytic compounds) that do exist and are already in Human Trials?

STEM Talk Episode 122 w/ Dr. James Kirkland

Boom, done!

Warning!  The podcast is about an hour and fairly technical, do not attempt to listen if you are sleepy and operating heavy equipment.  That being said, the good folks at STEM Talk (IHMC) are top drawer scientists who do everything they can to improve performance for all the USG teams that are laying it on the line for us every day.  Their podcast is also top drawer and the episodes are generally high level, as far as science goes for this 3rd Grader.

As always, I would love it if you shared your thoughts on this entry and please share this with your tribe if you think it would be useful, and any Navy SEALs you might know!

Have a good one, Alex

PS. For those of you not paying attention, my  “(think Army SOF)” side note was in fact a vailed dig at my many good friends who are or were Navy SEALs