5 replies to this topic

[LizParrish]

I would like to take a poll. How many people would give $100,000 to have access to a therapy designed to lengthen telomeres once it was deemed reletively safe?

How many people would give 1 million or more to have equity in a company doing this?

[LizParrish]

No one would be interested? No money? Who are the people who would do anything to live longer?

[Absent]

Telomeres are not the key to Immortality. They are only one part of a very large equation. Telomeres do shorten each time a cell replicates, and the idea is that the cell won't be able to replicate once the telomeres are gone. The problem is missing telomeres are not the only thing that causes aging. As DNA replicates errors are inevitably made. There are systems in place to repair these errors, but overtime, the bodies ability to repair them will be exceeded by the amount of errors that are created. Aging is the result of every system in the body slowly weakening through slight errors building up overtime.

"Aging is the build up of error"


An effective cure for aging could be one that maximizes the bodies repair mechanisms, or introduces alternative repair mechanisms, such as through nanotech, etc.

Besides, 100,000 is an incredibly small amount of money to ask for potential immortality. For all you know there are people here who already have access to immortality technology/science .

[0010]

Askhenazi jews are good example of supercharged telomerase enzyme. Good thing that i have dilluted askhenazi genes from both sides, yay. Anti-oxidants seem like the most otc way to prolong lifespan by reducing dna damage.Oh you might also want to look into epigenetic histone acetyltransferase.

[JohnD60]

I think telomeres are at best a yardstick, not a cause or cure. But if what to start a poll, you should use the poll function

[olaf.larsson]

I am sure someone would be interested. As I understand it is a misconception to think about telomere length as something that is fixed to certain length in the beginning of life and then continously gets shorter until it you die. Telomere length is dynamic and can shrink or lengthen depending on environmental factors. Lengthening your telomeres artificially most likely will add some years to your lifespan, but it will not stop you from aging or making you immortal. You could probably achieve better life extension result by eating relatively cheap drugs known for their life extension effects, such as deprenyl.

Edited by olaf.larsson, 06 December 2013 - 05:02 PM.