it's great to have doctor ob read a great back on the program he's a
biomedical gerontologist and chief science officer
love the Sens Research Foundation also editor in chief
the academic journal rejuvenation research
Doctor degree always great to speak with you last time you were on the show I
looked it up
it was back in April or May up 2012
so I think the first question is have we seen any
real tangible progress on the problem
%uh aging as you a research it in terms of
extending life the life span indefinitely as you have %uh talk to us
about before
well yes thanks for having me back on the show and yes certainly we've been
making Rick Perry respectable progress
and the two years since I will go on on a costly also been
in general progress made by other people and relevant area
so if I could get highlights part one of two things yeah
um one thing to one a huge by
we how shown really good google.com site
all approach to combat in cardiovascular
with me after a alright be a fun
we are pursuing you to identify bacteria
that are able to break down the matriarch chocolate molecule but drives
after a
Laura with my cubicle 7 PTI cholesterol
we found those bacteria what do you have to go now
and we figured out how they do it another word we identified
the genes and enzymes that their use were really hot but what we've not done
beings to transfer those games
to a human cell and can modify them in such a way that we end but I'm still
works
misuse pretty tricky because the inside the human so it's very different from
the inside a bacterial while
and it took 'em but 12 tinkering
things like nothing to do but we were able to just your
ago to demonstrate very clearly that this can be done
we were able and taking that to show that sells
with our enzyme could survive
constant questions all seven feet high cholesterol that would normally kill
file
well that is very nice so in essence energy would not be considered an
example
love aim a a modification at the sell your little
cellular level that could prevent some love the breakdowns that happened during
the aging process
I would actually got but this is something but can not only prevent
but actually reverse me progression of
up ok about restoration which is because the number one killer in the Western
world
meat sauce all of Jackson's trucks so this is a really big deal
but we have a little further to go we definitely need to get this working in
other talking fell
and in my speech well we can't stop thinking about clinical trial
so it's still several years away from really hitting the big time but still we
can be going part
I just happened coincidently to be reading the introduction to sam Harris
is the moral landscape the other day
and he actually happens to mention your work and it's only by sheer chance that
I read that
just before having you back on the program and he says that you referred to
aging as an
engineering problem do you think that that's an accurate way
to kind of paraphrase how you view aging yes but the Frenchman I've used
II you could describe you know the waves like for example a damage repair
approach or a preventative maintenance approach
you know all the frightening our equipment million fans
that by emphasizing the fact that you human body is a machine
albeit an extraordinarily complicated machine work for
but we techniques what we used to expand and maintain the healthy longevity over
simple man made machine like a car can be adapted
and you know mellowed analogous method you
to expand the healthy longevity invest very complicated machine global human
body
I'm curious whether in your work you also
look at the eventual possibility above the transfer of the human consciousness
as has been described for so long in science fiction
novels an increasingly now by more people like Ray Kurzweil et cetera
do you think that the idea of extending life indefinitely
as a tackling it at the cellular level as an engineering problem the way you do
is in conflict with the idea of eventually separating the human mind
from the body or can they work together
well first of all I want to emphasize that I'm sure I did two years ago that I
don't work on longevity
my goal here is not longevity for longevity respect my goal here is to
keep people healthy
and in particular to keep people healthy however long ago they were ball
so of course that may mean that there is a side effect a side benefit but people
will live a lot longer than they do today
but but only if you can start in fact what I'm focusing on is keeping people
healthy
sure now want your question I think
at it's certainly not in conflict between way
um good let's call it the biomedical approach
and the non-physical non-biological approach
I would say that we see things very much go together
and indeed I think that everyone on either side ugh research Wales
it's very happy to both research will are moving forward very aggressively
because the bacteria that with any research any pioneering technology
we simply don't know which approach is going to succeed sooner
I mean I think laps at this point it's looking pretty good
flown by medical approach we r basically getting there with all these barriers
damage to pass strategy
and shops I think that it's going to become
a lot less necessary a lot less important to be able to develop ways to
transfer
human consciousness to alternative hardware
but equally other side good end up but we can't some problems but we weren't
expecting
and that be uploading folk don't fix that problem number
well the only way to save people's lives you by yes transfer our consciousness
two different hardware so you know we're just gonna
you've talked about up kinda time frame %uh
significant advances in the work you're doing within a couple of decades so I'm
curious whether
you feel that you will personally be able to reap some of the benefits of the
typeof research
that you're doing within your lifetime
well if I had to put an estimated probability guide I would say
by on my chances personally making the cut out about fifty 50
those cost that but doesn't checked into account the possibility that I might be
crime working then revived at some future time when the technology
like that um however I
you know that's not really what gets me outta bed in the morning what motivates
me
is not so much my personal prospect of benefiting but rather the humanitarian
aspect
the fact that what I'm doing a ringing we
defeat I'll changing the maddest medical controller Beijing
float going to happen sooner about my work me otherwise work
every single day that I bring well is
I should be a hundred thousand lives site looking back the number of people
that die
everyday worldwide chrome age-related causes
that's what motivates me hey I don't think I've ever ask you this in in the
times we've had he had you on but it always is a question that comes in
is there any correlation between your work
on aging and your beard
and Matthew Salah from the Bible having lived hundreds and hundreds of years is
that sheerly
a is is it surely a coincidence or is there any connection there
it's completely a coincidence reason I look like this began my life lecture
I okay alright well the I get that question every time you're on so
hopefully that will put in and at least
that that question that we always get doctor opry to graze a biomedical
gerontologist
chief science officer love the Sens Research Foundation
you will also be giving a talk in Buckingham towards the end of this month
and you'll actually talk about
a correct me if I'm wrong recent progress in your field
suddenly that's what I'll talk about all right thank you again for being on it
always a pleasure
my pleasure to thank you for having me