Fight Aging!

The staff of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, like most research centers in this field, largely work on things that won't make any meaningful difference to human longevity, such as calorie restriction mimetic drugs and other forms of metabolic manipulation that can only slightly slow the aging process. In among that there are a few useful projects that might form the basis for therapies capable of rejuvenation, repairing and reversing the course of aging, such as efforts to clear senescent cells, but they are a tiny minority of initiatives. Turning the aging research community around to primarily focus on things that actually matter, like senescent cell clearance, is still very much a work in progress, and this isn't helped by the funding situation for all lines of work related to aging:

In April, Novato-based Buck Institute for Research on Aging, with a $32.5 million budget and nearly 300 employees, launched a new partnership with Google-funded Calico Life Sciences, a San Francisco-based startup dedicated to research on aging. Calico's Arthur Levinson strolled the campus of Buck Institute and met with its CEO Brian Kennedy and other top researchers as he explored the emerging partnership. Calico plans to put some of its employees on the Buck site.

Over the past 15 years, government funding has not increased for research on aging such as that done at the Buck Institute, Kennedy said. "We are trying to figure out how to keep the lights on rather than growing. This is ridiculous." Research universities have similar funding struggles, he said. "When I go and argue for more funding I can't say we are going to do science for science's sake. You get put in an insane asylum if you say that. But precisely that spirit of pure inquiry is what drove huge technology advances. People explore and find interesting things. It's a sad indictment in the wealthiest country in the world - you can't make that case anymore. The anti-­intellectual movement in this country is very dangerous. When I go to China, I hear people's imaginations at work. When I talk to scientists in the U.S., I hear, how do I write my grant?"

Their talent for science is diverted to the task of drumming up money and keeping the flow going. "It makes you risk-averse," Kennedy said, yet the most exciting science happens in a risk-embracing environment. "I worry about the long-term state of this culture. We're not investing" even small amounts to drive discovery forward. "We should have a government that isn't afraid to be a little progressive."

About half of Buck Institute's $32.5 million budget comes from the National Institutes of Health. A few years ago, a much larger percentage of NIH funding went to research on aging, Kennedy said. He would like to have 50 investigators exploring the science of aging. He seeks investors in the science or philanthropists to expand the institute. "We need someone to make a $50 million bet" that the research will pay off, he said, a billionaire "to believe in this mission" as a vision, a legacy. "Aging research is an adventure in something completely different," he said. "We know it's going to work. It's time to implement it. We have this huge paradox. The promise of this field is great - the next medical revolution. There's no money. It's a big challenge. Meanwhile we are spending 19 percent of our (federal) budget on health care. It's not even effective." The cost of prevention can be a twentieth of the cost of treatment, he said.

Link: http://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/northbay/marincounty/4138872-181/quest-to-redefine-aging