RAADfest, Rapamycin, Pig Heart Transplant and New Teeth

It has been a while since I covered news from the world of anti-aging and age reversal. Some major media coverage in that area in recent weeks. A cure for or slowing down in human aging would obviously also benefit hair loss (and reverse grey hair).

RAADfest 2023
RAADfest 2023 key speakers. Source: Raadfest.com.

RAADfest 2023

RAADfest 2023 ran from September 7, 2023 through September 10, 2023 in Anaheim, California. It is run by the Coalition for Radical Life Extension non-profit organization, whose executive director is James Strole. The RAADfest Twitter (X) account has some updates from  the conference. Note that RAAD is an acronym for “Revolution Against Aging and Death”.

I am always interested in this unique aging reversal related conference. However, this year they did not release any video presentations from the conference on their YouTube channel. There are some short videos on the Coalition for Radical Life Extension’s Instagram.

Of most interest to me was the list of speakers at the conference. They managed to attract some of the most well known people in the worlds of biology, genetics, anti-aging and technological progress. Among these include people that I have covered on this blog several times in the past:

  1. George Church. A Harvard University based vegan scientific genius who got an F grade in a graduate school course in 1976.
  2. Bryan Johnson. Of BluePrint biohacking fame who has been everywhere in the news this year. A marketing wizard bar none and also a vegan.
  3. Aubrey de Grey, who I talked to in an airport once when our flight was delayed. You can check out all his past Reddit comments where he did some AMAs. He never misses his daily beer.
  4. Ray Kurzweil, a famous inventor and futurist who I talked to at a Singularity Summit once. Renowned for taking over 150 daily vitamin and mineral supplements.

The only anti-aging scientist celebrity that was missing is Dr. David Sinclair of NAD and NMN fame. He is also a vegan.

Among the other presenters included BioViva’s vegetarian CEO Liz Parrish; and Sierra Sciences ultramarathon runner CEO Bill Andrews. Both of whom I have also covered in the past.

The 69-year old still very youthful looking life extentionist William “Bill” Faloon has been a permanent presence at RAADfest since the first edition in 2016.

Longevity Summit Dublin

On a related note, Dr. Martin O’Dea and Dr. Audrey de Grey (via his LEV foundation) are running a new conference called Longevity Summit Dublin. Their comprehensive YouTube channel contains all the speaker videos from the first edition of this conference that happened in August 2023. Among the speakers included Dr. George Church.

Rapamycin in the News

Two new videos in regards to Rapamycin.

Dr. David Sinclair: 

“On and off”.

Mr. Peter Diamandis:

“I am taking 6 milligrams once a week.”

Second Ever Pig Transplant

The world’s second ever successful pig heart transplant to a human just occurred at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Wishing the very best to recipient Lawrence Faucette. The first person who successfully got a pig heart (in 2022, also at University of Maryland School of Medicine) only lived for 2 months.

Can Aging be Reversed?

The Economist (in a cover story) and BBC discussed aging reversal in detail in September 2023. As did NPR, Netflix (Blue Zones), National Geographic and more. A globally ageing population means an evermore desire for anti-aging technologies to come to fruition.

Growing New Teeth

A Japanese pharmaceutical startup named Toregem Biopharma (funded by Kyoto University) is working on a drug to stimulate the growth of new teeth. This would be a world-first. The company plans to begin clinical trials in 2024, and put the drug on the market by 2030.

Toregem Biopharma was co-founded by Dr. Katsu Takahashi, head of dentistry and oral surgery at Kitano Hospital in Osaka. In a 2021 report, he stated the following:

“The fundamental molecules responsible for tooth development have already been identified. The morphogenesis of individual teeth depends on the interactions of several molecules including BMP, or bone morphogenetic protein, and Wnt signaling,”

The team already succeeded in growing new teeth in mice in 2018. Moreover, the team also administered the drug to ferrets, which have similar baby and permanent teeth to humans. Yet again, new teeth grew in the experiment.

Interestingly, Dr. Takashi Tsuji and his team at OrganTech (Japan) are working on regenerating both teeth and hair. Previously at RIKEN, they were also working on salivary gland regeneration.

Cricket Player Hair Transplant Boom

The ICC Cricket World Cup starts in India on October 5, 2023. Although less than 20 countries play this sport seriously, it is a major sporting event in the Commonwealth of Nations. While reading about this subject this week, I came to the realization that hair transplants are becoming very popular amongst cricket players.

Cricketers Get Hair Transplants

In the past, I covered the hair transplants of the late Australian cricketing legend and ex-vice-captain Shane Warne. Him and Graham Gooch (ex-England captain) were perhaps the first cricket superstars who went public with their hair transplant procedures. Both underwent their transplants and other hair loss treatments at Advanced Hair Studio (UK).

South African cricket great Jacques Kallis also underwent a hair restoration procedure at Advanced Hair Studio (South Africa). And New Zealand ex-captain Martin Crowe also went to the same clinic in a different country. However both of them seem to have started with a non-surgical hair replacement procedure (called Strand-by-Strand® Cosmetic) that seems to be a bit similar to an artificial hair transplant.

This week, the Daily Mail had an article about England cricket team captain Ben Stokes and his 2018 hair transplant. It seems to have turned out great and he is very pleased with the results. His five year before-and-after photos were released by Wimpole Clinic (UK).

According to Mr. Stokes:

“Some of his England team-mates have also undergone similar transplants after discussions in the dressing room, while others are contemplating it.”

Eugenix Hair Sciences

Considering that the center of the cricketing world is in India, it is not surprising that locally based clinics treat cricketers with hair loss regularly. However, I was still very impressed with Eugenix Hair Sciences ability to get so many cricketers to come to them for their hair transplants.

Hair Transplant Cricket Player Azharuddin
Hair transplant before and after 1-year in ex-cricket player Mohammad Azharuddin. Source: Eugenix Hair Sciences.

Eugenix’s hair restoration surgeons have performed a number of hair transplants on cricket superstars (both past and present). Clinic co-founder Dr. Arika Bansal wrote a recent article on Linkedin about former Indian cricket team captain Mohammad Azharuddin’s two hair transplants at their clinic. In his first procedure in 2021, he got 4,240 grafts, all from the scalp. In his second procedure in 2022, Mr. Azharuddin got a body hair transplant procedure (around 4,000 grafts from his beard and calf regions) due to lack of scalp donor.

On Instagram, Eugenix’s other co-founder Dr. Pradeep Sethi recently posted a great video about cricketer Mohammed Shami’s hair transplant at their clinic. Mr. Shami is playing in the upcoming World Cup.

Other well known Indian cricket payers who got hair restoration surgeries include ex-vice captain Virender Sehwag at Medlinks; and ex-captains Sourav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir.

Hair loss blog with the latest news updates.