Dec 05 2008
Dr. David Sinclair Makes Progress in the War on Biological Aging
A recent article in The New Scientist, “Has universal ageing mechanism been found?” by Linda Geddes, reports some hopeful news for those of us who desire indefinite life in this world. The work of Dr. David Sinclair at the Harvard Medical School has discovered that malfunctions in a protein called Sir2 in yeast cells are responsible for those cells’ senescence. The protein performs a dual function; it repairs DNA and suppresses the inappropriate expression of certain genes. As yeast cells senesce, Sir2 protein molecules become overworked and are unable to fulfill the function of gene suppressors – and hence certain genes begin to be expressed in the wrong parts of the organism, leading to nasty side effects for the yeast cells’ health.
Dr. Sinclair has further studied the protein SIRT1, which performs similar functions in mammals to those of Sir2 in yeast cells. He has discovered numerous similarities between these two proteins, which suggests that a possible way to rejuvenate senescing mammals (and, in particular, human beings!) might be to somehow facilitate the creation of many more SIRT1 proteins than are naturally available to mammal organisms. In that way, each individual protein molecule would be less likely to become overworked. The article quotes Sinclair as saying that this discovery “opens up the possibility of restoring youth in the elderly by re-establishing a useful pattern of gene expression.” As I am not anywhere close to being elderly yet, this bolsters my hope that by the time I am in my sixties, this technology will already be mainstream and affordable.
The next step in Dr. Sinclair’s research is to find out how to actually increase SIRT1 production in mammals. I hope that he succeeds in discovering a way and that he succeeds as quickly as possible. Colossal numbers of people die of senescence every day; the faster a way to delay this killer is discovered, the more of these immeasurably precious lives can be saved.
Sincerely,
Gennady Stolyarov II
Editor-in-Chief, The Rational Argumentator: http://rationalargumentator.com
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