Aging is biology in motion. With longevity comes stress on cells. Each of the more than 50 trillion cells in the human body is genetically programmed to perform a specific biological function and then to die, making way for new cell development. When more cells die than are being replaced, the diseases of aging arise. 

Ongoing genetics research into strategies for slowing aging and preventing age-related disorders indicates that life expectancy can be prolonged. As the risk of most chronic diseases—among them cancer, atherosclerosis, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis and Parkinson's—doubles with every eight- to nine-year increase in age, a drug that slows aging would prevent or postpone such diseases.  

The Jackson Laboratory's Kevin Flurkey, Ph.D., and David Harrison, Ph.D., are among the researchers leading the effort to find ways to extend our health span, the years of robust health and high quality of life. They worked on the first experiments that showed that a mammal's life span can be lengthened significantly with a drug called rapamycin. With this and other advances, they want to find out not only why we age, but how to use that knowledge.

"We're looking for the processes that control aging—what I call our ‘clocks,'" Flurkey says. "Once we find the clocks, we have the chance to slow them down, with the ultimate goals of delaying the onset of age-related diseases and increasing health span."

A large-scale initiative to unlock the secrets of human longevity and health is under way at The Jackson Laboratory—West in Sacramento, California. This $7 million project is studying some 1,000 different compounds to determine if they extend the lifespan of mice by at least 30 percent. If such a compound exists and has the same effect in humans, a person expected to live to age 75 would live to age 100, or beyond.

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