1:45 PM
Based on input from readers and my own level of interest, I've decided to report on breakout session A, "Anti-Aging Research."
Panelists are Christoph Westphal, MD PhD, CEO, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals; Leonard Guarente, Professor of Biology, MIT; Richard Weindruch, Professor of Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Thomas Perls, Associate Professor, Boston University and Director, New England Centenarian Study.
Richard Weindruch is an expert on caloric restriction (CR). He's pretty skinny. He's talking about the implications of CR in mice for humans, and on potential biomimetic approaches to achieve CR effects. He says "animals stay healthier longer with caloric restriction." He posed the question: "Does CR retard aging in primates?" Nonhuman primates: Unknown (although his company is doing a long-term study on monkeys). Humans: No direct evidence yet, but indirect evidence strongly suggests that it might.
Leonard Guarente also will talk about CR. He's pretty skinny too. His group has done studies with yeast and with roundworms in which a specific anti-aging gene (SIR2) was identified. They think there is a direct relationship between CR and the activation of SIR2. The closest gene in humans is SIRT1, and this gene seems directly correlated with a range metabolic anti-aging activities. The idea, then, appears to be "how can we trigger over-expression of SIRT1 in humans?" He says "we are now in a position to start looking for CR mimitec drugs."
Christoph Westphal runs a company that is trying to develop drugs to stimulate SIRT1 activation. In mice, the current version of the drug appears to nearly replicate a CR diet. Their initial clinical results with humans also look quite promising. Westphal, by the way, is not skinny.
Thomas Perls says he will talk about "Anti-Aging Quackery (Certainly Not Medicine)." He's starting by debunking the claims of anti-aging treatments like HGH, etc. He is quite critical of the 1994 US DSHEA act that legalized and legitimized dietary additives. Perls recommends checking out Quackwatch.com, and he says to watch out for the next quack fad: stem cell injections.
In audience Q&A, Perls just called Aubrey deGrey a "goofball." Guarente says maximum lifespan (100-110 years) in humans probably will never increase, but the average will grow.
That wraps up the major sessions. There's a musical performance coming next, but I have to catch a train back to New York City.
Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog tretc
Nice job, Mike. I appreciate your good coverage of this event. If only more events were covered so well. This is important to folks like me with no travel budget. Thanks!
Posted by: Nato Welch | September 28, 2006 at 01:42 PM
So much for Mr. Perls' reputation.
Seriously... what kind of idiot would give in to ad hominem attacks?
;)
Posted by: Jan-Willem Bats | September 28, 2006 at 11:54 PM
Re "Guarente says maximum lifespan (100-110 years) in humans probably will never increase, but the average will grow."
It is hard to understand how someone can be so blind. Of course human lifespans will increase past 100 years, the only question is how soon this will happen. It is a technological problem, and we are getting better at solving these at exponential rates.
Posted by: Tim Lundeen | September 29, 2006 at 10:33 AM
Mr. Treder,
Great coverage. Each emerging technology which you covered interests me greatly. I have been tracking emerging tech for several years now at my portal dot com - Domain Nesteggs. To share this information with the public for open discussion beyond the conference walls is of paramount importance for intelligent decisions concerning these new powerful technologies. I've got goosebumps now on my arms as I type this - for my life's passion is using technology intelligently - so that the human experiment may be a success, rather than a failure. Thanks again for the conference summaries! All the best! Ted Stalets
Posted by: Ted Stalets | October 03, 2006 at 05:21 AM