Fight Aging!

So what is the Methuselah Foundation up to these days? As you might know, the Foundation has administered the Mprize for longevity science since 2003: a multi-million dollar prize fund that encourages researchers to find ways to extend healthy life in mice - a good marker for technologies that may then be applicable to other mammals, such as we humans. Last year, the Foundation inaugurated a new prize, the NewOrgan prize that aims to spur greater progress in tissue engineering and the creation of functional new organs from a patient's own cells. This dovetails with the Foundation's investment strategy: helping to fund companies that focus on advanced tissue engineering, such as Organovo, and solving organ transplant issues, such as Silverstone Solutions.

The Methuselah Foundation sent out a sneak peek email yesterday with a pointer to the New Organ Mprize website and the first pledge drive with matching funds: this will be the big thing for the coming year. Here is the text:

Time for something new and personal.

In 2012, the next chapter for Methuselah and the journey for an enduring answer for millions will begin. We are excited to share this preview with our closest supporters and friends.

Introducing New Organ Mprize.

Think of a time when no one has to suffer and die waiting for an organ that never arrives. New Organ is creating the public prize that builds urgency for that future.

Sneak peek.

While we're finishing the campaign's site, we'd like to give you a preview of its homepage. We hope you like it as much as we do. Look for more pages in a few weeks.

Showing momentum.

Our goal is $200,000 by February 28th. To help achieve this and establish traction at launch, Organovo's Keith Murphy has pledged to match gifts up to $25,000.

Become a New Organ Founder.

We invite you to join us at the beginning. Let’s start New Organ with 25% of the job done. Kickstart the prize!

My yearly round of donations remain divided between the SENS Foundation and Methuselah Foundation - the two organizations to appear prominently on the Fight Aging! Take Action page. Both are worthy causes, consistently achieving a great deal more behind the scenes in networking and persuasion with the scientific and research funding communities than is apparent from the front end. A large fraction of the sea change in the aging research community in recent years can be attributed to the communities centered on these organizations.

Aiming to extend the healthy human life span has come to be a respectable goal in the scientific community over the past ten years. That wasn't always the case, and it's easy to forget just how much of a sea change has taken place since the [turn of the century].