And obviously there’s a ton of money going into cancer research in general, albeit I wouldn’t be surprised if most of it was dedicated to solving specific cancers rather than all cancer at once.
I think the consensus in the field is at the moment that cancer isn’t a single thing. Therefore “solve all cancer at once” unfortunately doesn’t make a good goal.
That’s my vague impression too. But if I remember correctly, the original idea of OncoSENS (the part of SENS addressing cancer) was something that in theory would address all cancer regardless of type.
I also seem to recall that most experimental biologists thought that many of Aubrey’s ideas about SENS, including OncoSENS, were impractical and that they betrayed a lack of familiarity with working in a lab. (Although I should note, I don’t really know what they’re talking about. I, too, lack familiarity with working in a lab!)
But if I remember correctly, the original idea of OncoSENS (the part of SENS addressing cancer) was something that in theory would address all cancer regardless of type.
I just reread the OncoSENS page.
The idea was to nuke the gene for telomerase from every cell in the body and also nuke a gene for alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT).
Nuking out telomerase in every cell doesn’t need further cancer research but gene therapy research. Albeit most gene therapy is about adding gene’s instead of deleting them.
I think the consensus in the field is at the moment that cancer isn’t a single thing. Therefore “solve all cancer at once” unfortunately doesn’t make a good goal.
That’s my vague impression too. But if I remember correctly, the original idea of OncoSENS (the part of SENS addressing cancer) was something that in theory would address all cancer regardless of type.
I also seem to recall that most experimental biologists thought that many of Aubrey’s ideas about SENS, including OncoSENS, were impractical and that they betrayed a lack of familiarity with working in a lab. (Although I should note, I don’t really know what they’re talking about. I, too, lack familiarity with working in a lab!)
I just reread the OncoSENS page.
The idea was to nuke the gene for telomerase from every cell in the body and also nuke a gene for alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT).
Nuking out telomerase in every cell doesn’t need further cancer research but gene therapy research. Albeit most gene therapy is about adding gene’s instead of deleting them.
As far as research funding goes SENS seems to be currently funding research into ALT (http://www.sens.org/research/intramural/the-alt-mechanism). I think it’s plausible that ALT research is otherwise underfunded but I don’t know the details.