The Scientific Quest for Lasting Youth: Prospects for Curing Aging

Abstract

People have always sought eternal life and everlasting youth. Recent technological breakthroughs and our growing understanding of aging have given strength to the idea that a cure for human aging can eventually be developed. As such, it is crucial to debate the long-term goals and potential impact of the field. Here, I discuss the scientific prospect of eradicating human aging. I argue that curing aging is scientifically possible and not even the most challenging enterprise in the biosciences. Developing the means to abolish aging is also an ethical endeavor because the goal of biomedical research is to allow people to be as healthy as possible for as long as possible. There is no evidence, however, that we are near to developing the technologies permitting radical life extension. One major difficulty in aging research is the time and costs it takes to do experiments and test interventions. I argue that unraveling the functioning of the genome and developing predictive computer models of human biology and disease are essential to increase the accuracy of medical interventions, including in the context of life extension, and exponential growth in informatics and genomics capacity might lead to rapid progress. Nonetheless, developing the tools for significantly modifying human biology is crucial to intervening in a complex process like aging. Yet in spite of advances in areas like regenerative medicine and gene therapy, the development of clinical applications has been slow and this remains a key hurdle for achieving radical life extension in the foreseeable future.

A synopsis on aging—Theories, mechanisms and future prospects

“…Hence, the question shifts towards should we cure aging? Opinions diverge (e.g., (Aledo and Blanco, 2015; Anton et al, 2005; Baars, 2012; Caplan, 2005; de Magalhaes, 2014; de Magalhães, 2013; Vijg and de Grey, 2014)), and commonly described fears include concerns about overpopulation and inequality, economic collapse due to healthcare and the idea that aging is natural and should not be tampered with (de Magalhaes, 2014; de Magalhães, 2013). Advocates of life-extension research state that curing aging is not scientifically implausible and we may soon reach the “longevity escape velocity” (de Grey, 2004), a stage of medical progress that will result in delaying aging-related degeneration and death to such an extent that there is time to carry out research seeking more effective therapies later on (Vijg and de Grey, 2014) and dispute the alarms raised by others by noting the failed predictions of Malthus regarding the disasters due to overpopulation (Sethe and de Magalhães, 2013; Trewavas, 2002).…”

The failure of “engineered rejuvenation”: laboratory genomics do not translate into precision anti-aging therapies

“…A PubMed online search (18 May 2018) of the term "rejuvenation biotechnologies in aging" shows 99 papers discussing theoretical or laboratory aspects of rejuvenation biotechnologies. Instead, a search of "clinical applications of rejuvenation biotechnologies in aging", reveals just one relevant paper [23] . Henney [22] states: "Putting it bluntly, how can such reductionist approaches possibly help us predict and test, let alone understand how a new medicine will work, when given to a patient in the target treatment group, which, in the case of the major illnesses that are being targeted by personalization strategies, is likely to be over 65, with a number of co-morbidities and already taking a number of other medications?…”

Bat Biology, Genomes, and the Bat1K Project: To Generate Chromosome-Level Genomes for All Living Bat Species

“…Given that different parts of the genomes can show strikingly different histories (e.g., 132,140), it is important that the correct homology is inferred, which requires well-assembled genomes to enable alignment across divergent evolutionary time frames. 36 Teeling et al…”

“…Some of the most important challenges facing humanity into the next century are biological. These include improving the well-being of our large and rapidly ageing human populations (36), preventing the spread of emergent infectious diseases (37), maintaining agricultural productivity (10), and restoring natural ecosystems worldwide (38). These challenges will require a range of approaches to overcome them, starting with understanding the intrinsic mechanisms that make us vulnerable to disease and the ecological relationships underlying ecosystem maintenance and resilience.…”