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summary: Researchers are investigating the science behind aging and the continuing quest for human longevity. They investigated the large variation in lifespan between species and believe that the main cause of aging is chemical damage that accumulates within cells.
While the findings highlight promising research areas such as rapamycin and cell reprogramming, they also highlight the need for caution in the face of hype and potential conflicts of interest in the growing anti-aging industry. I am.
Important facts:
- Aging is primarily caused by chemical damage that accumulates in molecules and cells.
- Research on rapamycin and cell reprogramming offers the possibility of extending lifespan.
- The anti-aging industry is booming, but be careful because of potential conflicts of interest and exaggerated claims.
sauce: Harvard University
The lifespan of a mayfly is only one day. Galapagos tortoises can grow up to 170 years old. The Greenland shark holds the world record for lifespan of over 400 years.
Venki Ramakrishnan, Nobel Prize winner and author of the newly published “Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality,” spoke to a packed Harvard Science Book Theater last week. At the beginning of his talk, he pointed out the wide variation in lifespans in nature. As far as we know, death is certain. But there is no physical or chemical law that says it has to happen at a fixed time, so another, more philosophical question arises.
The ‘why’ behind these large fluctuations, and the quest to achieve human longevity, have driven frenzied attempts (and billions of dollars in research dollars) to slow or stop aging. I did.
Ramakrishnan’s book is a sober examination of the current scientific understanding of aging and death, which essentially results in the accumulation of chemical damage to molecules and cells.
“The question is whether we can tackle the aging process while remaining true to who we are as humans,” Ramakrishnan said in a conversation with MIT Technology Review writer Antonio Regalado. Told. “And whether we can do it in a safe and effective way.”
Even if immortality, or simply living for a very long time, is theoretically possible through science, should we pursue it? Ramakrishnan compared this problem to other moral considerations.
“There are no laws of physics or chemistry that say we can’t colonize other galaxies, other universes, or even Mars,” he says. “I think I’d put it in the same category. It would take a lot of progress, and we haven’t gotten there yet.”
In fact, we are very close to making great progress when it comes to the pursuit of immortality. Ramakrishnan said the field is changing so quickly that books like his can only capture snippets.
He then took the audience on a short tour of some of the major directions in aging research. And many of them started in unexpected places, he says.
Let’s take rapamycin as an example. Rapamycin is a drug that was first isolated from Easter Island bacteria in the 1960s and was found to have antifungal, immunosuppressive, and anticancer properties. Rapamycin targets the TOR pathway, a large molecular signaling cascade within cells that regulates many fundamental functions of life.
Rapamycin has received renewed attention for its potential to reverse the aging process by targeting cell signaling associated with physiological changes and diseases in older adults.
Other directions include mimicking the anti-aging effects of caloric restriction demonstrated in mice, and a particularly exciting area called cellular reprogramming. It means taking fully developed cells and essentially turning back the clock on their development.
The most famous basic experiment in this field was by Kyoto University scientist and Nobel Prize winner Shinya Yamanaka, who used just four transcription factors to transform adult cells into pluripotent stem cells, which are now known as induced pluripotent stem cells. We have shown that it is possible to create cells known as stem cells. cell.
Ramakrishnan, a scientist at the UK’s MRC Institute of Molecular Biology, won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for elucidating the structure of the ribosome. He said he felt he was qualified to write the book because he has “zero interest” in aging research. As a molecular biologist who has studied the fundamental processes by which cells make proteins, he had contacts in the field, but he was not very close to any of them.
While researching this book, he took pains to avoid interviewing scientists involved in commercial ventures related to aging.
There are many potential conflicts of interest.
Aging research around the world has exploded in recent decades, with billions of dollars being spent by government agencies and private companies. And the consumer market for the product is predicted to reach $93 billion by 2027.
As a result, Ramakrishnan noted that false or exaggerated claims by companies promising longevity are now on the rise. He gave an example. A supplement designed to lengthen a person’s telomeres, the genetic parts that shrink as we age, is available on Amazon.
“Of course, these are not FDA approved. There are no clinical trials and it’s not clear what the basis for this is,” he said.
However, there still seems to be some demand for it.
About this longevity and aging research news
author: Anne J. Manning
sauce: Harvard University
contact: Anne J. Manning – Harvard University
image: Image credited to Neuroscience News
Original research: Buy Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality by Venki Ramakrishnan online.
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