Anti-aging Research

Not to long ago, living to the early thirties was considered a good run. We saw tremendous progress when humans moved to an agricultural based economy (i.e. couple million to hundreds of millions of people walking on the planet). Progress was slow, but put into perspective probably as great if not greater than the industrial revolution. Then came the industrial revolution followed by globalization and wallah! human longevity doubled. Now, there are a few people that are trying to prolong our lifespan to several hundred years. I wanted to take the post to introduce two of the leaders in anti-aging research. 

Before I do that I want to discuss a conversation I had with my cousin, who is a MD/PhD candidate in biology (or medicine something along those lines) at the University of North Carolina. At Thanksgiving dinner I asked my cousin what he thought of anti-aging research. His research is primarily in alcoholism (which is far more complicated than you might think), he said many of his classmates have a strange obsession with immortality. Some who pursue medicine do so because they think they can contribute to discovering human immortality. A few things that helped put the challenge and difficulties of anti-aging were:

1. Once we overcome one obstacle another is waiting. For example, we cure small pox, fever, polio etc. The next obstacle is heart disease/cancer. Once we cure cancer we have Alzheimer's/mind degenerative diseases, and it continues down the line.

2. While we can sequence the human genome (getting towards affordable for the masses) that is not the holy grail. DNA and sequencing it gives you a parts list. Then you have to understand how these parts interact with each other in different situations, etc. The task is daunting and to have a complete understanding of this, we have much work to do and many years to wait (speculation). 

The two scientists that I found interesting in anti-aging research are Aubrey de-Gray and Cynthia Kenyon. Heres some information on them. 

Aubrey de Grey:

Aubrey's work is focused on the plan "Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS)" In a nutshell defines 7 causes of aging and eventually death and his research aims to combat them:

1. Mutations in chromosomes that cause cancer due to nuclear mutations. 

2. Mutations in Mitochondria.

3. Junk inside of cells (intercellular aggregate).

4. Junk outside of cells (extracellular aggregate).

5. Cellular loss (too few cells).

6. Cellular senescence (too many cells). 

7. Extracellular protein crosslinks.

Cynthia Kenyon:

Her research prompted her to change her diet. "No desserts. No sweets. No potatoes. No rice. No bread. No pasta. When I say ‘no,’ I mean ‘no, or not much,’ she notes. Instead, eat green vegetables. Eat the fruits that aren't the sweet fruits, like melon. Bananas? Bananas are a little sweet. Meat? Meat, yes, of course. Avocados. All vegetables. Nuts. Fish. Chicken. That's what I eat. Cheese. Eggs. And one glass of red wine a day."

Her research focuses on killing specific cells in worms, which has shown to prolong there life. Her research aims to keep you young to fight off disease and degeneration. She founded Elixir Pharmaceuticals, with the goal of creating a pill that has the same affects on prolonging human life as the worms in her research. 

Check out their TED talks here:

Aubrey

Cynthia