Good news for research into biochemical mechanisms at the junction of calorie restriction, metabolism and aging: Sirtris Pharmaceuticals has closed its series B funding round at a healthy $27M. Venture capitalists are a conservative breed, so this indicates that at least one field of healthy life extension research is hot right now; for every million dollars that we hear about, there is much more that we don't. Sirtris is named for sirtuins, enzymes currently considered to be "universal regulators of aging in virtually all living organisms [that] represent a prime target for new anti-aging drugs. ... Now the race is on, Sinclair said, to find the most potent sirtuin stimulators -- or create synthetic ones -- and test their ability to extend the lives not only of cells, flies and worms but also of mice, monkeys and humans."

Link: http://www.sirtrispharma.com/press/press.3.7.05.html