Anti-Ageing Clinic in Space – Lycotec Project
Lycotec is a Cambridge, UK based company specialising in the development of diagnostic-based nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and functional food products to slow down or reverse metabolic and physiological changes in the body associated with ageing http://www.lycotec.com/
The company’s proposal for an anti-ageing study was selected to be presented at the 12th International Space Station Research and Development Conference in Seattle, organised by NASA, the ISS U.S. National Laboratory; and the American Astronautical Society https://www.issconference.org/.
Space microgravity causes a reduction in the skeletal muscle and bone mass in astronauts similar to that which happens during the ageing process on Earth but at a much faster rate. This provides a unique opportunity to test the efficacy of new nutraceutical or functional food products which can improve or treat these changes within months rather many years of terrestrial anti-ageing trials.
The founder of the company, Dr. Ivan Petyaev, presented Lycotec’s proposal on 3rd August 2023. It comprised two principle parts: observational and interventional. The project would start with the assessment of the changes in one of the main tissue parameters, the level of oxygenation. In the second part the company’s nutraceutical and functional food products would be used to improve this parameter.
Dr. Ivan Petyaev, CEO and Founder of Lycotec says,“Testing products in an accelerating ageing microgravity environment may not only help to find solutions to help astronauts to live and work longer in space, but could be a leap forward in anti-ageing medicine aiming to support health in terrestrial ageing and potentially expand our longevity.”
The products are based on bioactives, originating from food, which are safe for humans, and which have two complementing modalities: improving tissue oxygen supply and stimulating mitochondria growth and activity. Their efficacy has already been validated in a number of clinical trials on elderly people or on people with different levels of muscle atrophy or reduced mobility.
Lycotec is now working to create a business partnership alliance to implement this project not only, to support the health and performance of astronauts especially during their long space expeditions, but also to improve the quality of terrestrial ageing and potentially expand human longevity.
