Anti-ageing elixir may be closer to reality
Pioneering research into the effects of ageing has found our cells can be changed to behave as if they were younger.
It's the stuff of science fiction and Hollywood magic, but an anti-ageing elixir may be closer to reality, thanks to the work of a pioneering Australian scientist.
Professor David Sinclair works at Harvard University and the University of New South Wales.
This year he was named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world, for his ground-breaking research into the reversible effects of ageing.
Using mice, his team discovered the molecules that control how the body ages, and worked out how to manipulate them - even turn back the clock.
He told 7News: “What happened to the mice was they seemingly became half their age, so by taking a 60 year old human, and making it 20 or 30. We are looking at the muscle, and the muscle of the mice was extremely young even though the mice were old.”
Physically, this mouse looks old, he has grey hair and wrinkles.
The mice next to him are his siblings - they look much younger, but they're all exactly the same age.
This mouse's physical age was accelerated by treating him for one week with a molecule called NMN.
Next he was treated with a chemical called NAD, to reverse the ageing process.
“Twenty years ago I wouldn't think we'd ever be this close to having a molocule that could do this 46 actually some of the molecules have been in people already and they seem to be safe, so it's just a matter of years, I hope that we'll be able to show they actually work,” he said.
The research has moved from mice to humans, and while it's early days, the possibilities are endless.
Drugs are now being developed that could restore youthfulness in human cells, helping prevent disease and allow us to live longer, healthier lives.
“The future is never going to be the same, and we'll look back at today, at our current medicines like we do at the days before antibiotics,” he said.
This research isn't about living forever, it's about improving the quality of life.
The human applications are infinite: increasing women's years of fertility, faster diagnosis of cancer years before it develops, and drugs that can slow ageing.
Immortality is out of reach, but living more years with a body robust enough to make the most of them is now a real possibility.
COMING UP TOMORROW: The science behind smoothing out wrinkles.
News break - November 10
