Editing SENS Foundation

The '''SENS Foundation''' is a [[non-profit organization]] co-founded by Michael Kope, [[Aubrey de Grey]], Jeff Hall, Sarah Marr and Kevin Perrott, which is based in [[California]], [[United States]]. Its activities include [[SENS]]-based research programs and [[public relations]] work for the acceptance of and interest in scientific [[Rejuvenation_%28aging%29#Modern_developments|rejuvenation research]]. Before the Foundation was launched in March 2009, the SENS research program was mainly pursued by the [[Methuselah Foundation]], co-founded by Aubrey de Grey and [[David Gobel]].

== Goals ==

The Foundation's long term goal is the defeat of human aging; its interim goal is a milestone that Aubrey de Grey has termed "Robust Mouse Rejuvenation" (RMR). RMR is defined as the ability to extend the healthy lives of middle-aged mice (which means two years old for a long-lived strain that lives three years on average) by two years. Its shorter-term goal is to accelerate the various research programs that go together to make the SENS plan, by attracting funds as rapidly as it can and sponsoring university research, prioritising those aspects of SENS that are not adequately funded by other means.

== SENS Research ==

:''Main article: [[Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence]] (SENS)'' 

From his biogerontology work, de Grey believes there to be seven categories of cellular damage that constitute agedness, or as he puts it, "the set of accumulated side effects from [[metabolism]] that eventually kills us,"<ref>
{{cite news 
  | last = Than 
  | first = Ker 
  | title = Hang in There: The 25-Year Wait for Immortality 
  | publisher = [[LiveScience]] Health SciTech 
  | date = April 11, 2005
  | url = http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/050411_aubrey_interview.html 
  | accessdate = 2009-03-14 }}
</ref> 
all of which are reversible.<ref name="Seven Deadly Things">
{{cite web
  | title = The "Seven Deadly Things" and Why There Are Only Seven
  | publisher = SENS Foundation
  | url = http://sens.org/index.php?pagename=mj_sens_repairing
  | accessdate = 2009-04-07 }}
</ref> 
In order to repair each type of aging damage, de Grey has also developed seven intervention strategies.<ref>
{{cite book
  | last = de Grey
  | first = Aubrey
  | coauthors =& Rae, Michael
  | title = [[Ending Aging|Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs that Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime]]
  | publisher = [[St. Martin's Press]]
  | date = September 2007
  | location = New York, NY
  | pages = 416
  | isbn = 0312367066 }}
</ref>

:Seven types of aging damage and SENS solutions:<ref name="Seven Deadly Things"/>

# Cell loss and cell [[atrophy]] — [[Stem cell]]s and [[tissue engineering]] ("RepleniSENS")<ref>
{{cite web
  | title = RepleniSENS
  | publisher = SENS Foundation
  | url = http://sens.org/index.php?pagename=replenisens
  | accessdate = 2009-04-07 }}
</ref>
# Nuclear [epi][[mutations]] — WILT, short for "Whole-body Interdiction of Lengthening of Telomeres" ("OncoSENS")<ref>
{{cite web
  | title = OncoSENS
  | publisher = SENS Foundation
  | url = http://sens.org/index.php?pagename=oncosens
  | accessdate = 2009-04-07 }}
</ref>
# [[Mitochondrial]] mutations — [[Allotopic expression]] of 13 proteins ("MitoSENS")<ref>
{{cite web
  | title = MitoSENS
  | publisher = SENS Foundation
  | url = http://sens.org/index.php?pagename=mitosens
  | accessdate = 2009-04-07 }}
</ref>
# Death-resistant cells — Targeted removal ("ApoptoSENS")<ref>
{{cite web
  | title = ApoptoSENS
  | publisher = SENS Foundation
  | url = http://sens.org/index.php?pagename=apoptosens
  | accessdate = 2009-04-07 }}
</ref>
# [[Extracellular]] crosslinks — [[Advanced glycation end product|AGE]]-breaking molecules and tissue engineering ("GlycoSENS")<ref>
{{cite web
  | title = GlycoSENS
  | publisher = SENS Foundation
  | url = http://sens.org/index.php?pagename=glycosens
  | accessdate = 2009-04-07 }}
</ref>
# [[Extracellular]] aggregates — Stimulating of the [[immune system]] to clear out the aggregates ("AmyloSENS")<ref>
{{cite web
  | title = AmyloSENS
  | publisher = SENS Foundation
  | url = http://sens.org/index.php?pagename=amylosens
  | accessdate = 2009-04-07 }}
</ref>
# [[Intracellular]] aggregates — Equipping the [[lysosome]] with enzymes capable of degrading the aggregates ("LysoSENS")<ref>
{{cite web
  | title = LysoSENS
  | publisher = SENS Foundation
  | url = http://sens.org/index.php?pagename=lysosens
  | accessdate = 2009-04-07 }}
</ref>

The Foundation is currently funding projects in LysoSENS, MitoSENS, and OncoSENS.<ref name="Seven Deadly Things"/>

As of March 2009, over $6 million in donations have been pledged for SENS research.<ref name="Donation Details">
{{cite web 
  | title = Donation Details
  | publisher = Methuselah Foundation 
  | url = http://www.mfoundation.org/index.php?pagename=fundsdetaildisplay
  | accessdate = 2009-03-14 }}
</ref>

== Staff ==

The staff of the SENS Foundation:<ref>http://sens.org/index.php?pagename=mj_about_who_founders</ref>

* Michael Kope, Co-Founder : Chief Executive Officer
* Aubrey de Grey, Co-Founder : Chief Science Officer
* Jeff Hall, Co-Founder : VP Research Operations
* Sarah Marr, Co-Founder : VP Development and Communications

Interim Board:<ref>http://sens.org/index.php?pagename=mj_about_who_interim_board</ref>
* Barbara J. Logan : Chair
* Kevin Dewalt : Board Member
* Kevin Perrott, Co-Founder : Board Member

== Donors and volunteers ==

On September 16, 2006, [[Peter Thiel]], co-founder and former [[CEO]] of the online payments system [[PayPal]], announced that he is pledging $3.5 million to the Methuselah Foundation "to support scientific research into the alleviation and eventual reversal of the debilities caused by aging" (SENS research).<ref>
{{cite news
  | last = Davidson
  | first = Keay
  | title = BAY AREA — Entrepreneur backs research on anti-aging — Scientist says humans could live indefinitely
  | work = [[San Francisco Chronicle]]
  | date = September 18, 2006
  | url = http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/18/BAGF5L7LQS1.DTL
  | accessdate = 2009-03-14 }}
</ref> 
[[Justin Bonomo]], professional poker player, has pledged 5% of his tournament winnings for SENS research.<ref>
{{cite web
  | title = Please Welcome the Newest Members of The Three Hundred
  | work = Methuselah Foundation Blog
  | publisher = Methuselah Foundation
  | date = January 18, 2007
  | url = http://blog.methuselahfoundation.org/2007/01/please_welcome_the_latest_memb.html
  | accessdate = 2009-03-14 }}
</ref>
[[Sam Harris]], a prominent nonfiction writer and scientific skeptic, is a Methuselah Mouse Prize 300 member.<ref>
{{cite web
  | title = Sam Harris is a 300 member?
  | work = Methuselah Foundation forums
  | publisher = Methuselah Foundation
  | date = March 11, 2009
  | url = http://www.mfoundation.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1240
  | accessdate = 2009-04-09 }}
</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Methuselah Foundation]]
* [[Outline of life extension]]

==References==

{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Anti-aging]]
[[Category:Gerontology]]
[[Category:Life extension]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 2009]]