Announcing MitoSENS Research - Science Funded by Our Generous Donors
Generous Methuselah Foundation donors have been funding the modest first steps into scientific research for Aubrey de Grey's Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) since late last year. This research effort will continue to expand with the Foundation and your support. We are pleased to announce that LysoSENS, the first branch of donor-funded SENS research, is now joined by MitoSENS:
Mutations to the mtDNA inevitably accumulate leading to dysfunction of mitochondria, and contributing to aging of the organism. The goal of MitoSENS is to obviate mtDNA mutations by expressing the mtDNA genes from the nucleus.Fortunately, we would be completing a process that evolution has already started.
The mitochondrial genome originally had thousands of genes, but evolution has reduced it to a mere 13 (protein encoding) genes in humans. By studying how nature transfered expression of other genes from the mitochondria to the nucleus, we can identify the necessary steps to transfer the remaining 13 genes (in humans).
MitoSENS research is currently being conducted in the lab of Ian Holt at Cambridge University. To learn more about the MitoSENS strategy from its originator and Methuselah Foundation chairperson Aubrey de Grey, see the SENS website here (laymans terms) or here (technical).
Onwards and upwards! All great voyages start with such modest steps. There is much to be done in the fight to prevent degenerative aging by tackling the cellular damage that lies at its root - the sooner we start, the sooner we'll finish.