Biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey will be giving a presentation entitled "The Foreseeability of Real Anti-Aging Medicine, a survey of relevant biotechnology and likely timeframes" at the University of Alberta, Canada, on February 15th.

Does anti-aging medicine exist yet? Certainly not in the sense in which the word "medicine" is normally used, i.e. therapies that cure people of the condition from which they are suffering. The therapies that we have today to combat some of the effects of aging are valuable, but a genuine anti-aging medical treatment will be incomparably more valuable, as it will restore elderly people to the physical and mental vitality of their youth -- and keep them youthful thereafter. It is therefore essential to be aware that these more powerful therapies are not nearly so far in the future as one might think. In this talk I will discuss the details of some of the components of a foreseeable panel of true rejuvenation therapies and explain why it is likely that, with the proper commitment and funding, this panel can be implemented in mice in just ten years from now and in humans in only 15-20 years thereafter.

If you are in the vicinity, you should certainly look at attending. Aubrey de Grey is a good, entertaining speaker - I recommend hearing about the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence initiative from the horse's mouth, as it were.

Posted by Reason at January 11, 2005 12:13 PM | TrackBack (0)