The Lifespan Extension Advocacy Foundation (LEAF) also known as Lifespan.io is a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

with mission to support fundamental research on the main mechanisms of

aging Ageing (or aging in American English) is the process of becoming Old age, older until death. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi; whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentiall ...

and age-related diseases and educate the public on the possibility of bringing aging under medical control in order to prevent, postpone and cure age-related diseases. It was founded in 2014 and is based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

. Its activities include a news outlet covering aging research, an annual scientific conference on aging in New York City, and the non-profit

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

platform ''Lifespan.io''. As of 2020, the platform has hosted eight successful campaigns, including three research projects by

SENS Research Foundation The SENS Research Foundation is a non-profit organization that does research programs and public relations work for the application of regenerative medicine to aging. It was founded in 2009, located in Mountain View, California, US. The organizat ...

. The organization also operates the largest investor network platform for longevity related startups and investors. In October 2024, LEAF completed a merger with SENS Research Foundation. The newly merged organization is named Lifespan Research Institute. Co-Founders include Lisa Fabiny-Kiser and Stephanie Dainow.

News outlet

LEAF established its news outlet in 2016 with the goal of educating the public on the progress in aging and longevity research. As of 2020, it contains over 900 news articles, including over 90 interviews with aging and rejuvenation researchers, such as

Aubrey de Grey Aubrey David Nicholas Jasper de Grey (; born 20 April 1963) is an English biomedical gerontologist. He is the author of ''The Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging'' (1999) and co-author of '' Ending Aging'' (2007). De Grey is known for ...

, Judith Campisi, Brian Kennedy, Steve Horvath, David Sinclair, and

Gregory Fahy Gregory Michael Fahy is a California-based cryobiologist, biogerontologist, and businessman. He is the Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at 21st Century Medicine, Inc, and has co-founded ''Intervene Immune'', a company developing clin ...

. In 2018, LEAF interviewed the Russian geriatrician Valery Novoselov on the questionable case of

Jeanne Calment Jeanne Louise Calment (; 21 February 1875 – 4 August 1997) was a French supercentenarian. With a documented lifespan of 122 years and 164 days, she was the oldest people, oldest person in history whose age has been verified. Her longevity at ...

's exceptional longevity.

Scientific conference

Ending Age-Related Diseases: Investment Prospects and Advances in Research () is an annual scientific conference hosted by LEAF in New York City in the summer. It is focused on

biomarkers of aging Biomarkers of aging are biomarkers that could predict functional capacity at some later age better than chronological age. Stated another way, biomarkers of aging would give the true "biological age", which may be different from the chronological ...

, fundamental studies on

, the development of

rejuvenation Rejuvenation is a medical discipline focused on the practical reversal of the aging process. Rejuvenation is distinct from life extension. Life extension strategies often study the causes of aging and try to oppose those causes to slow aging. ...

therapies for humans, and investment and regulatory aspects of the

longevity Longevity may refer to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is defined Statistics, statistically as the average number of years remaining at a given age. For example, a population's life expectancy at birth ...

industry.

Crowdfunding platform

LEAF's non-profit crowdfunding platform ''Lifespan.io'' is dedicated to supporting fundamental and early-stage studies on aging. it helped to collect over $390,000 in support of eight research projects, including three projects by SENS Research Foundation - OncoSENS, MitoSENS and MitoMouse.

Outreach and advocacy

LEAF maintains a variety of outreach activities. Members of the organizations give talks at scientific and public events, appear on television, and give press interviews. In 2017 and 2018, as a part of its outreach activities, LEAF provided scientific advice to help the YouTube channels

Kurzgesagt Kurzgesagt (, ; German language, German for "In a nutshell", "in short", or literally "shortly said"; ) is a German animation studio, animation and design studio founded by Philipp Dettmer. The studio is best known for its YouTube, YouTube chann ...

Life Noggin Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, organisation, metabolism, growth, adaptation, response ...

, and

CGP Grey CGP Grey is an American educational entertainment, educational YouTuber, podcaster, and Online streamer, live streamer based in the United Kingdom who creates explanatory videos on subjects including politics, geography, economics, sociology, h ...

create educational popular science videos about biological aging and the potential of regenerative medicine.

References

External links