On Tuesday, January 25, 2000 1:38 PM Eugene Leitl
eugene.leitl@lrz.uni-muenchen.de wrote:
> > It would be nice to take this work and apply it to antiaging and
cryonics
> > research. A few years ago, I suggested coming up with a mathematical
model
>
> Yes, that's the idea behind it.
Great! At least, I'm understanding you.:)
> > of cryopreservation so as to come up with better cryoprotectants
through use
> > of genetic algorithmns. (My assumption was the model would be highly
>
> We first need a good water model. I haven't modelled freezing in large
> volumes (it's on my todo list), but purportedly the freezing point is
> totally off-key.
Please explain. (If it will take too much space here, please email me
directly.)
> Whether this is an artefact of small volumes, or the
> water model, and inasmuch this invalidates studied impact of
> cryoprotectants I do not know (but intend to find out).
This is great to hear. I wish I could help.
> > nonlinear and very complex so that this method of search would be
better
> > than trial and error or an exhaustive search.)
>
> Virtual screening is very new, and requires a lot of resources, both
> in terms of hardware and manpower.
But genetic algorithmns have been around since, at least, the early 1970s.
If one could start with a simple model -- one that hardly works -- and just
build on it, I bet this could be done a lot quicker. We don't need
perfection here. After all, this would only act as an input into actual
physical testing. The searches coudl act to weed out more bad
cryoprotectants...
> > Anyone interested in this?
> >
> > And what is the current method of research on this? I hear about
results,
>
> Cryobiology is but a tiny subfied of a subfield, counting about 200
> practitioners world-wide, most of them past their prime. Molecular
> modelling is hence slow to enter the field.
I can understand, but that also means no one else is probably doing the work
there, so you need not fear competitors for a while. You'll be the pioneer.
Also, cryobiology is not the only field I mentioned. Antiaging research is
the other. What of that? If one can develop a good model of aging at the
cellular or molecular level, then finding new ways to combat it would seem
to me to be a lot easier. From the looks of it, it appears most research in
this area is identify a mechanism, find something that inhibits it, look for
similar things to that inhibitor, and so forth. Am I right?
A simulated aging cell could be used to more efficiently search for aging
inhibitors and therapies, no?
> > but I'm not sure about the program. I assume it's basically trial and
error
> > because the results seem disjointed.
>
> Thanks to Greg Fahy, we seem to understand colligative cryoprotectant
> mixes more or less well now.
I'm not as familiar with the field as you, but I'd like to be.
Specifically, I'd like to know how people come up with ideas for new
cryoprotectants.
Thanks!
Daniel Ust
http://mars.superlink.net/neptune/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 27 2000 - 14:02:42 MDT