George Church indicates reversal of aging will be a reality within ten years
by noreply@blogger.com (brian wang) from NextBigFuture.com on (#2CZ8H)
While discussing creating a hybrid elephant - wooly mammoth using CRISPR genome editing, Harvard's George Church predicted that reversal of aging will be a reality within ten years.
Nextbigfuture suspects that this could mean clearly reversing aging in mice cells as a proof in principle in ten years. But evidence suggests Church does mean full and significant aging reversal in humans within ten years. In March of 2016 Church said, aging should be thought of as a program that might be reversed, noting, "If we could take one of my skin cells and turn it into an embryo-like cell and turn it back into a skin cell it has reset almost all of the developmental indications of age. We have 65 gene therapies that are being test in mice and larger animals. If they go well we will go straight into human trials. That could be as little as two years ..
In June 2016, Church indicated that first phase I aging reversal human trials could be in a year or two.
"I [Church] don't think it is about stalling or curing, its about reversing. Curing gives you the impression of immortality. Stalling gives you the impression that you'll be 85 forever, which is not great."
Fahy: Using your most favorable pathway for intervention, how long will it take before a human trial might be possible?
Church: I think it can happen very quickly. It may take years to get full approval, but it could take as little as a year to get approval for phase one trials. Trials of GDF11, myostatin, and others are already underway in animals, as are a large number of CRISPR trials. I think we'll be seeing the first human trials in a year or two.
Fahy: Can you say what those trials might be?
Church: I helped start a company called Editas that is aimed at CRISPR-based genome editing therapies in general. Some of those will be aimed at rare childhood diseases and others hopefully will be aimed at diseases of aging. We also have a company focused specifically on aging reversal that will be testing these therapies in animal and human models.
Read more
Nextbigfuture suspects that this could mean clearly reversing aging in mice cells as a proof in principle in ten years. But evidence suggests Church does mean full and significant aging reversal in humans within ten years. In March of 2016 Church said, aging should be thought of as a program that might be reversed, noting, "If we could take one of my skin cells and turn it into an embryo-like cell and turn it back into a skin cell it has reset almost all of the developmental indications of age. We have 65 gene therapies that are being test in mice and larger animals. If they go well we will go straight into human trials. That could be as little as two years ..
In June 2016, Church indicated that first phase I aging reversal human trials could be in a year or two.
"I [Church] don't think it is about stalling or curing, its about reversing. Curing gives you the impression of immortality. Stalling gives you the impression that you'll be 85 forever, which is not great."
Fahy: Using your most favorable pathway for intervention, how long will it take before a human trial might be possible?
Church: I think it can happen very quickly. It may take years to get full approval, but it could take as little as a year to get approval for phase one trials. Trials of GDF11, myostatin, and others are already underway in animals, as are a large number of CRISPR trials. I think we'll be seeing the first human trials in a year or two.
Fahy: Can you say what those trials might be?
Church: I helped start a company called Editas that is aimed at CRISPR-based genome editing therapies in general. Some of those will be aimed at rare childhood diseases and others hopefully will be aimed at diseases of aging. We also have a company focused specifically on aging reversal that will be testing these therapies in animal and human models.
Read more