[h=1]Against the Biological Clock — A Gameplan to End Age-Related Diseases[/h] 
Dr. de Grey is cofounder and Chief Science Officer of the SENS Research Foundation and faculty at Singularity University’s November Exponential Medicine conference—an event exploring the healthcare impact of technologies like low-cost genomic sequencing, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, gene therapy, and more.
Recently speaking to participants in Singularity University’s graduate studies program, de Grey said the greatest challenge in aging research today is less of a technical nature, more a misguided focus in the mainstream.
Most approaches to age-related disease aim to manage symptoms. They have contributed to longer life expectancy and eased complications, but because treatments interfere with the body’s finely tuned systems, they can have nasty side effects and are ultimately powerless (even with advances) to reverse age-related illness.
Why?
“Aging is a side effect of being alive in the first place,” says de Grey.
Metabolic processes drive the day-to-day business of living, but they also inevitably cause cellular damage. The body’s range of self-repair mechanisms don’t take care of everything. Eventually, a lifetime of accumulated damage causes the familiar signs of aging like “thinning skin, cloudy eyes, muscles sapped of strength, heart disease, and cognitive decline.”
De Grey is known for his research into engineered negligible senescence. Negligible senescence is a term used to describe certain animals that don’t display symptoms of aging. De Grey believes we can use biotechnology to engineer negligible senescence in humans, and he cofounded the SENS Research Foundation to lead the way.
SENS focuses on seven categories of universal damage that contribute to aging.
These seven include cell loss and decreasingly effective cell replacement in the muscles, heart, and brain; uncontrolled cell division (cancer); the accumulation of toxins produced by damaged mitochondria (cellular power plants); the accretion of malfunctioning cells; the stiffening of tissues (like those in our arteries); and the accumulation of extracellular and intracellular junk.
There’s a lot to know about each category, but all have a few things in common—they’re natural byproducts of a body in motion; they’re mostly harmless in small quantities; if left unchecked, accumulated damage results in a range of ailments.
De Grey says we’ve known about the prime culprits of aging for decades, and after years of research, haven’t turned up many more. Now the challenge is using the knowledge to take action.
According to de Grey, there are already generic treatments to address all seven categories of aging either in development or believed to be feasible based on current research.
Read More at:
Against the Biological Clock ? A Gameplan to End Age-Related Diseases | Singularity Hub
Dr. de Grey is cofounder and Chief Science Officer of the SENS Research Foundation and faculty at Singularity University’s November Exponential Medicine conference—an event exploring the healthcare impact of technologies like low-cost genomic sequencing, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, gene therapy, and more.
Recently speaking to participants in Singularity University’s graduate studies program, de Grey said the greatest challenge in aging research today is less of a technical nature, more a misguided focus in the mainstream.
Most approaches to age-related disease aim to manage symptoms. They have contributed to longer life expectancy and eased complications, but because treatments interfere with the body’s finely tuned systems, they can have nasty side effects and are ultimately powerless (even with advances) to reverse age-related illness.
Why?
“Aging is a side effect of being alive in the first place,” says de Grey.
Metabolic processes drive the day-to-day business of living, but they also inevitably cause cellular damage. The body’s range of self-repair mechanisms don’t take care of everything. Eventually, a lifetime of accumulated damage causes the familiar signs of aging like “thinning skin, cloudy eyes, muscles sapped of strength, heart disease, and cognitive decline.”
De Grey is known for his research into engineered negligible senescence. Negligible senescence is a term used to describe certain animals that don’t display symptoms of aging. De Grey believes we can use biotechnology to engineer negligible senescence in humans, and he cofounded the SENS Research Foundation to lead the way.
SENS focuses on seven categories of universal damage that contribute to aging.
These seven include cell loss and decreasingly effective cell replacement in the muscles, heart, and brain; uncontrolled cell division (cancer); the accumulation of toxins produced by damaged mitochondria (cellular power plants); the accretion of malfunctioning cells; the stiffening of tissues (like those in our arteries); and the accumulation of extracellular and intracellular junk.
There’s a lot to know about each category, but all have a few things in common—they’re natural byproducts of a body in motion; they’re mostly harmless in small quantities; if left unchecked, accumulated damage results in a range of ailments.
De Grey says we’ve known about the prime culprits of aging for decades, and after years of research, haven’t turned up many more. Now the challenge is using the knowledge to take action.
According to de Grey, there are already generic treatments to address all seven categories of aging either in development or believed to be feasible based on current research.
Read More at:
Against the Biological Clock ? A Gameplan to End Age-Related Diseases | Singularity Hub
