Interesting Comments by George Church

George Church is an important figure in the development of modern genomics and genetic engineering. Like a number of luminaries in the medical life sciences, in recent years he has become much more openly supportive of efforts to treat the causes of aging and extend healthy human life spans. You might recall the keynote he gave at the SENS6 rejuvenation research conference, and note that Church is a member of the SENS Research Foundation advisory board. With that context, I'll point you to recent remarks made to a journalist: A Harvard professor says he can cure aging, but is that a good idea? I mentioned to Church that CRISPR is the kind of work for which Nobels are awarded. He quickly responded that there are more important things in the balance than prizes. There are cures for human diseases, he said. Church thinks that one of the ailments he can cure is aging. When I met him early this year, in his laboratory at Harvard Medical School, where he is professor of genetics, he expressed confidence that in just five or six years he will be able to reverse the aging process in human beings. "A scenario is, everyone takes gene therapy - not just curing rare diseases like cystic fibrosis, but diseases that everyone has, like aging," he said. He noted that mice die after 2.5 years but bowhead whales can live to be 180 or 200. "One of our biggest economic disasters right now is our aging population. If we eliminate retirement, then it buys us a couple of decades to straighten ou...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Healthy Life Extension Community Source Type: blogs