The Fountain of Youth: Reprogramming Cells

The Fountain of Youth - ResearchGate

Eternal youth has been a goal of the human race since we evolved. Tales about the fountain of youth were popular and large expeditions took place to find this mythical place. Medieval alchemists concocted “vials of youth.” In recent times, there has been a rise in cosmetic surgery focused on making one’s appearance more youthful. An abundance of time, money, and effort has been spent on staying youthful. Apart from appearance, being younger means being healthier. Younger people are less susceptible to diseases and injuries. Now, research has shown that altering the body on the cellular level to stay youthful is possible.

Research by scientists at the Salk Institute, in collaboration with Genentech, has shown that cellular rejuvenation therapy has reversed aging in mice. Other than the impact on appearance, like wrinkles, there are also increased risks to many diseases, weaker muscles, and brittle bones. The process describes effectively reversing the aging process by returning their cells to a younger state (1). Each cell in the body possesses its own biological “clock.” Epigenetic markers, patterns of chemicals on DNA, differ between cells from older people and younger people. The research focused on returning these markers to the more youthful pattern. Bringing function back to older cells results in more immunity to disease or stress.

Many other studies have been conducted that experiment with changing the epigenetic markers. These studies have shown to reduce age-related vision loss and eye damage in mice. While all of this research has shown promising results in mice, there is not enough evidence to come to the same conclusion with humans. More testing is needed to determine if the epigenetic markers in mice are similar to those of humans and if repeating the same procedures are safe for humans. The ethics of reverse aging must also be debated; like genetic modification in babies, the line is blurred. While reducing the risk of disease and injury is a benefit of this research, staying young forever can undermine what it means to be human.

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~ Edited by Rita Dwivedi

References:

1. https://www.salk.edu/news-release/cellular-rejuvenation-therapy-safely-reverses-signs-of-aging-in-mice/
2. https://www.nia.nih.gov/about/advances-aging-and-alzheimers-research

This article was originally published at the Teach-Technology Organization, Inc. online technology blog. I volunteer as a tech blog writer at this organization, which is dedicated to bridging the gap between seniors and technology. You can read this article (and many more) at the Teach Technology site.