To be a student in David Sinclair’s Harvard University lab is to be a time traveler. The genetics professor has dedicated his career to understanding the processes that define getting older, and more recently, how to use that understanding to turn back a cell’s inner clock.
Last month, a team of biologists led by Sinclair’s lab published a new model to explain how aging works — and might be reversed — based on the results of their 13-year study of mice. Through painstaking experiments, they identified the epigenome — chemical modifications to DNA that flip genes on or off — as the primary driver of the aging process. And using a technology known as partial reprogramming, the scientists rebooted old animals’ epigenetic code to restore them to a youthful state.
“We can drive aging now forwards and backwards at will,” Sinclair, director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research, told STAT in a recent interview. His vision is to one day test similar approaches in humans, to see if a single intervention might reverse various maladies of aging, like heart disease and Alzheimer’s. That road, though, is long and uncertain.
This article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers
Unlock this article — plus daily coverage and analysis of the biotech sector — by subscribing to STAT+.
Already have an account? Log in
Already have an account? Log in
About the Author Reprints
To submit a correction request, please visit our Contact Us page.
STAT encourages you to share your voice. We welcome your commentary, criticism, and expertise on our subscriber-only platform, STAT+ Connect