On December 15, 2016, The New York Times cited commentary from three AFAR affiliated experts on research led by a team at the Salk Institute that has rejuvenated the organs of mice and lengthened their life span by 30 years, reported in Cell journal.
In “Scientists Say the Clock of Aging May Be Reversible,” 2015 Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction winner Jan Vijg, Ph.D., called the research “novel and exciting,”
Later, 2015 Irving S. Wright awardee Leonard Guarente, Ph.D, notes “It’s a pretty remarkable finding, and if it holds up it could be quite important in the history of aging research.”
The Salk study poses that small doses of genes, discovered ten years ago by Japanese biologist Shinya Yamanaka, might rejuvenate cells without the total reprogramming that converts cells to the embryotic state.
To this, 1999 AFAR Beeson Scholar and 2012 Glenn/AFAR Breakthroughs in Gerontology (BIG) Award winner Thomas A. Rando, M.D., Ph.D,
an expert on stem cells and aging as well as blood rejuvenation, lends insights. Rando notes it should be possible in theory to uncouple the differentiation program and the aging process, and that “if that’s what’s happening, this is the first demonstration of that.”
Read the full article here.
Leonard Guarente, Ph.D., is the Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Science of Aging Research and the Novartis Professor of Biology at MIT.
Jan Vijg,, Ph.D., is the Lola and Saul Kramer Chairperson in Molecular Genetics and Chair of the Department of Genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Thomas A. Rando, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor of neurology and director of the Rando Laboratory at Stanford University School of Medicine.
For expert-edited guides on the role of Animal Models, Stem Cells, Longevity and more, visit our InfoAging Biology of Aging Center here.
