🧪the science
The longevity research protocol
The pump.science protocol lets anyone propose a chemical compound or combination for testing. Each intervention launches as a token to enable research fundraising. Once the token reaches a funding threshold, it advances to animal testing.
To determine whether a compound has longevity potential, it follows this research protocol:
Worms (C. elegans): The intervention or placebo is administered to ~60 worms each, testing whether the intervention increases the lifespan of the worms.
Flies (Drosophila): 45 flies receive intervention or control, and are tested for both lifespan and movement, assayed by negative geotaxi, where flies are tapped to the bottom of a vial, and their climbing speed and distance are measured over time.
Mice (Mus musculus): Mice can be tested on the followng assays
Dose-finding study: Young (~3 month old) mice are tested at 3 different dosages of an intervention for a day, and their vitals and performance are measured to pick an optimal dose.
Performance study: Tests interventions in young (~5 month old) mice for effects on body temperature, blood markers, grip strength, movement (Open Field), cognition (Y-maze)
Longevity study: Tests compounds in middle-aged (~12 month old) mice for lifespan, body temperature, blood markers, grip strength, movement (Open Field), cognition (Y-maze).
Humans: Final testing using decentralized human trials, using longevity biomarkers.
Current Experiments
🪱 Worms ( C. elegans)
Duration: ~30 days
How It Worms:
12-well NGM plates (3 intervention, 3 control) with 20 C. elegans per well are used to compare lifespan effects at 25 °C.
Synchronized C. elegans are obtained by hatching eggs overnight, grown to late L4 stage on NGM agar seeded with live E. coli. At L4, they are transferred to NGM plates containing compound or control.
AI tracks worm movement and survival through automated image capture.
What You'll See on pump.science:
Race videos, separated by 10 minutes each
Past race data and trends
Side-by-side comparisons of compound versus control data
Worm Experimental Replays:
Worm studies are conducted in advance and streamed to the platform retrospectively. These replays are streamed at an accelerated rate, turning a 30-day experiment into a shorter replay.
🪰 Flies (Drosophila)
Longevity Studies
Duration: ~3 months
How It Works:
45 treated vs 45 control Canton S Drosophila flies are tested immediately post hatching.
The drug is mixed into standard dry yeast food at your chosen concentration.
Daily survival is recorded
10–12 fly races (negative geotaxis assays) are performed to extract speed and distance as measures of functional performance.
What You'll See on pump.science:
Videos of the fly races (negative geotaxis assays)
Data for average speed and distance traveled by the flies during the races, and daily survival counts
🐁 Mice
There are 3 types of mouse studies drug devs can choose from:
Dose Discovery Experiment: 8 mice (<3 months old) are split into control + low/medium/high dose (oral) to find optimal dosage through rapid screening.
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Longevity Testing Experiment: 20 middle aged (12 months old) mice per group, minimum 4 months, all lab and functional testing cost extra, primary endpoint: median lifespan extension
🧑 Coming soon...
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