MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. –More than 100 attendees and participants gathered recently at the Manhattan Beach Project Longevity Summit, November 13-15, in order to find in answer to ending aging by 2029.
Hosted by the Maximum Life Foundation and sponsored by the Life Extension Foundation, two of the leading non-profit organizations dedicated to research on extending the healthy human lifespan, the Manhattan Beach Project gathered a group of the leading scientists, entrepreneurs and visionaries for three days with the goal of developing a scientific and business strategy to make human life extension a real possibility within the next two decades.

According to Dr. Steven Joyal, Vice President of Science and Medial Affairs of Life Extension Foundation, “Amazing new developments in organ transplantation science, gene therapy and nanotechnology place the likelihood of events once considered fantastic or even impossible within our grasp. That is the very real message that was conveyed at the Manhattan Beach Project Longevity Summit.”

The conference opened with entrepreneur and futurist Ray Kurtzweil, who explained, “We are very close to the tipping point in human longevity. We are about 15 years away from adding more than one year of longevity per year to remaining life expectancy.”

Over the next three days, experts presented their latest research at a series of conference sessions. University of California, Riverside biochemist Stephen Spindler reported on his research on calorie restriction. Spindler is currently screening a variety of compounds, including pharmaceuticals, to see if they mimic the effects of calorie restriction in mice. He presented early results that show that some compounds to seem to increase mouse life spans. Michael Rose, a biologist at the University of California, Irvine, who’s work is built on the premise that natural selection is the cause of aging, explained how using artificial selection for longevity , he has produced fruit flies that live four times longer than normal, the human equivalent of being healthy at age 300.

William Andrews, head of Sierra Sciences, talked about his company’s project to identify compounds that lengthen telomeres, which have been shown to have an effect in controlling aging in cells and thus control aging in us. Biologist Michael West discussed the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS cells). IPS cells can be transformed into other types of cells, which can be used to repair damage or rejuvenate tissues and organs.

By the end of the summit, one thing was very clear: researchers are finally beginning to understand the actual causes of aging, and with this increased scientific understanding, some researchers now believe they are on the way to figuring out how to stop it, and –eventually – how to reverse it. While there is still a long way to go, what just a few years ago seemed like science fiction to many is quickly becoming a reality.

Readers interested in learning more about the Manhattan Beach Project Longevity Summit should visit www.manhattanbeachproject.com.