Biohacker’s Live Show features top experts in optimal human performance as if they were in your living room. Your host is Teemu Arina, the co-author of the Biohacker’s Handbook and curator of the Biohacker Summit. Catch each episode by subscribing to our podcast on iTunes here.
Serge Faguet is a serial entrepreneur, extreme biohacker and CEO of Mirror AI. Previously he founded Ostrovok, Russia’s largest online travel company with $500m in turnover. While there he raised >$50m in capital and led the company to EBITDA profitability and >300 employees. Before that, he founded TokBox, a leading B2B video communication company with ~$50m ARR, funded by Sequoia Capital. He has also worked at Google and studied at Cornell and Stanford GSB.
In addition to being a tech CEO, Serge is a diehard biohacker who is keen on having better energy, mood, focus, happiness, confidence, willpower, intelligence, health, and longevity. His hobby for the past 5-6 years has been to achieve the above-mentioned attributes by hacking the body and mind through science. As a part of that journey Serge has optimized sleep, nutrition, and exercise, taken thousands of tests, meditated > 1000 times, and worked with some amazing doctors.
He wrote two very influential blog posts on biohacking, where he describes any and all means (including controversial ones) to achieve these feats: Check them out here and here.
In this episode we dive deep into biohacking principles, transhumanism, the singularity, Serge’s optimization strategies, lab tests, details of his medical team and successful interventions he has done. There is a lot to be learned from this episode.
See the interview with Serge Faguet:
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Watch also Siim Land’s take on biohacking that is featured in the episode. In his biohacking special report he dives into the principles of biohacking. Afterwards we have an in-depth technological and antropological trialog on its implications on humanity:
Research article of the week
This article was represented in response to the discussion on lithium, that Serge Faguet uses for stabilizing his mood:
Lithium is known as an effective mood stabilizer for the treatment of bipolar disorder, but it is toxic at only twice the therapeutic dosage and has many undesirable side effects like kidney and thyroid damage, muscle weakness etc. Therefore, scientists have tried to produce molecules that have lithium-like effects in brain but with substantially less adverse effects.
One of such molecule is Ebselen (also called PZ 51, DR3305, and SPI-1005), is a synthetic organoselenium drug molecule with anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and cytoprotective activity. It acts as a mimic of glutathione peroxidase and as a lithium mimetic, which is part of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Collection, a chemical library of bioavailable drugs considered clinically safe but without proven use.
This study published in 2015 in Nature-magazine aimed for determine whether it is warranted to progress the development of Ebselen as a possible treatment for bipolar disorder. The studies were overseen by the Oxford University.
The emotional processing study involved 40 healthy participants with no history of any psychiatric disorder, 20 per group, in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group design.
Methods
- The day before the test day participants were asked to complete a set of baseline questionnaires: positive and negative affective schedule, some mood, energy and state-anxiety questionnaire, visual analog scales etc.
- The participants were given Ebselen/placebo three times, each time 3x200mg dose and after final dose they completed the above questionnaires to reveal any drug-related effects.
Results
- Taken together, the results demonstrated that Ebselen affected emotional processes in healthy participants. Safety of the drug seems excellent based on other animal and human studies to date including the current one.
- Moreover, Ebselen is an antioxidant, inhibits several of the proinflammatory enzymes, and, like lithium, is a neuroprotectant.
App of the week
LabGear is a definitive reference guide for lab test results with summarized descriptions and references to medical databases.
LabTests+ was also demonstrated, that has similar functionality.
Promotion of the week
Use code FAGUET to get 10% off of Biohacker Summit 2018 Stockholm tickets here.
Use code BLS to get 50 USD off of the new Oura ring on their website here.