Scientists may have just unlocked a real ‘fountain of youth’
New York Post By Joshua Rhett Miller December 16, 2016
Scientists have reversed signs of aging in mice, increasing their lifespan by 30 percent -– a finding that researchers believe could one day increase the life expectancy of humans.
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California announced Friday that scientists there are literally “turning back time” through a process known as cellular reprogramming, ultimately extending the animal’s lifespan from 18 weeks to 24 weeks – and without accumulating typical hallmarks of aging.
“Our study shows that aging may not have to proceed in one single direction,” Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a senior author of the paper and a professor at Salk’s Gene Expression Laboratory, said in a news release. “It has plasticity and, with careful modulation, aging might be reversed.”
The findings, which Belmonte claims indicate aging may be something doctors will one day be able to manipulate, appeared Friday in the journal Cell. Researchers say it’s the first time cellular reprogramming – a process that allows scientists to convert any cell into what are known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) – extended the lifespan of a live animal.
