Scientists' Open Letter on Aging Research

To whom it may concern,

Aging has been slowed and healthy lifespan prolonged in many disparate animal models (C. elegans, Drosophila, Ames dwarf mice, etc.). Thus, assuming there are common fundamental mechanisms, it should also be possible to slow aging in humans.

Greater knowledge about aging should bring better management of the debilitating pathologies associated with aging, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, and Alzheimer's. Therapies targeted at the fundamental mechanisms of aging will be instrumental in counteracting these age-related pathologies.

Therefore, this letter is a call to action for greater funding and research into both the underlying mechanisms of aging and methods for its postponement. Such research may yield dividends far greater than equal efforts to combat the age-related diseases themselves. As the mechanisms of aging are increasingly understood, increasingly effective interventions can be developed that will help prolong the healthy and productive lifespans of a great many people.

Sincerely (54 Signatories),


Signatures From Leading Aging Researchers


Prof. Vladimir N. Anisimov
Head of the Department of Carcinogenesis and Oncogerontology, N.N. Petrov Research Institute of Oncology, Russia; Author of Carcinogenesis and Aging and of Molecular and Physiological Mechanisms of Aging. [04/18/2005]


Bruce N. Ames, Ph.D.
Professor University of California, Berkeley, Senior Scientist
Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute; U.S. National Medal of Science; Research in delaying the mitochondrial decay of aging. [04/25/05]


Robert Arking, Ph.D.
Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University; Research focused on understanding the mechanisms underlying the onset of senescence in Drosophila; Author of Biology of Aging: Observations and Principles. [10/15/05]


Steven N. Austad, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Idaho; Author of Why We Age: What Science Is Discovering about the Body's Journey Through Life and numerous other aging research publications. [04/17/05]


Nir Barzilai, M.D.
Director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Author of numerous aging research publications; Founder of the Longevity Genes Project. [04/17/05]


Brian F.C. Clark, Ph.D., ScD.
CoFounder of Senetek PLC, Professor of Biostructural Chemistry, Aarhus University, Denmark, Centre Leader of the Danish Centre of Molecular Gerontology. [09/28/05]


Antonei B. Csoka, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Division of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Magee-Womens Research Institute; Research led to the discovery of the gene that causes Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome. [04/18/05]


Richard G. Cutler, Ph.D,
Vice President of Kronos Science Laboratories, Inc., Longevity Sciences Group; founder of Genox Corporation; Proposed and tested the Longevity Determinant Gene Hypothesis the Dysdifferentiation Hypothesis of Aging and the oxidative stress as a primary mechanism of aging model. [04/18/05]


Aubrey D.N.J. de Grey, Ph.D.
Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom; Founder of the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) approach to anti-aging medicine; Editor-in-chief of Rejuvenation Research. [04/11/05]


João Pedro de Magalhães, Ph.D.
Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Namur in Belgium; Postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School; Author of a number of publications on aging; Designed and implemented the Human Ageing Genomic Resources. [04/6/05]


Joseph M. Erwin, Ph.D.
Independent Consultant and Executive Director, Foundation for Comparative & Conservation Biology; Adjunct Professor, Biomedical Sciences & Pathobiology and VA-MD Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech; Senior Fellow, Center for Conservation and Behavior at Georgia Tech; Co-editor of Aging In Nonhuman Primates. [04/17/05]


Leonid A. Gavrilov, Ph.D.
Center on Aging, NORC at the University of Chicago, Chicago; Author of The Biology of Life Span; Founder of the Reliability Theory of Aging. [04/6/05]


Natalia S. Gavrilova, Ph.D.
Center on Aging, NORC at the University of Chicago, Chicago; Co-author of The Biology of Life Span; Author of over a hundred scientific publications on aging and longevity studies. [04/18/05]


David Gems, Ph.D.
UCL Centre for Research on Ageing, Department of Biology, University College London; Author of numerous aging research publications. [04/17/05]


David Gershon, Ph.D.
Skillman Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology; Chief Science Officer, Redox Pharmaceutical Corp. [04/18/05]


Christopher B. Heward, Ph.D.
Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Arizona; Senior Research Fellow in the UCLA Program on Medicine, Technology, and Society; President of Kronos Science Laboratories, Inc. [04/4/05]


Matt Kaeberlein, Ph.D.
Ph.D. in Biology from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Faculty member, The Basic Biology of Aging at the University of Washington; Co-founder, Longenity Inc. [04/18/05]


Alexander V. Khalyavkin, Ph.D.
Academic Secretary, Gerontological Society of RAS, Moscow Branch; Academic Secretary, Problem Committee "Physiology & Biology of Aging", Joint Scientific Council on Gerontology and Geriatrics, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and Health Ministry; Author of the concept an organism's non-senescence due to vital regimens, evoked by positive environmental influences or artificial cues. [04/19/05]



Marios Kyriazis, M.D.
M.D. from the Univerisity of Rome; MSc in Gerontology from the University of London, King's College; President of the British Longevity Society; Author of Carnosine: And Other Elixirs of Youth. [04/18/05]


Don A. Kleinsek, Ph.D.
Received a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in Physiological Chemistry. President and founder of GeriGene Medical Corporation, in Madison, Wisc. GeriGene's mission is to stop the aging process. [10/13/05]


Peter M. Lansdorp M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Medicine, University of British Columbia; Senior Scientist Terry Fox Laboratory, B.C. Cancer Research Center; major focus of research on genetic instability in aging and cancer, publications. [09/30/05]


Marc S. Lewis, Ph.D.
Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati in Clinical Psychology. Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin of Clinical Psychology. Research is focused on the interface of molecular biology and epidemiology with an emphasis on the molecular biology of aging. [06/12/05]


Valter Longo, Ph.D.
Professor and researcher at the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, Assistant Professor of Gerontology and Biological Science, Cell Biology and genetics, regulation of aging and multiple stress resistance systems in yeast and mammals, Alzheimer's Disease. [09/28/05]


Alvaro Macieira-Coelho, M.D.
Director at the French National Institute of Health (INSERM) in France; Author of numerous books on aging such as Biology of Aging: Progress in Molecular and Subcellular Biology, Cell Immortalization and Cancer and Aging. [04/17/05]


George M. Martin, M.D.
Professor Emeritus of Pathology, University of Washington. [04/10/05]


Brian J. Morris, Ph.D.
Professor of Molecular Medical Sciences in the School of Medical Sciences of the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Sydney; has over 230 publications; research focusing on the alteration in genome-wide expression profiles during ageing of human cells. [10/116/05]


S. Jay Olshansky, Ph.D.
Professor of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois; Co-author with Bruce Carnes of The Quest for Immortality: Science at the Frontiers of Aging. [04/21/05]


Suresh Rattan, Ph.D., D.Sc.
Professor, Danish Centre for Molecular Gerontology, Department of Molecular Biology, University of Aarhus, Denmark; Editor-in-Chief Biogerontology; Editor of Aging Interventions and Therapies; Research areas and expertise: cellular aging, hormesis (mild stress-mediated aging interventions); gerontogenes." [09/28/05]


Robert J. Shmookler Reis, Ph.D.
Professor, Depts. of Geriatrics, Medicine, Biochemistry & Molec.Biol., and Pharmacology; University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Career Health Scientist, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare Service. [09/28/05]


Karl T. Riabowol, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Director of the Laboratory of Aging and Immortalization, University of Calgary; Member, Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Aging Advisory Board; extensive publications on aging research. [04/17/05]


Arlan G. Richardson, Ph.D.
Director, Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.[04/10/17]


Michael R. Rose, Ph.D.
Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine; Author of Evolutionary Biology of Aging. [04/5/05]


Stanley Shostak, Ph.D.
Department Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh; Author Becoming Immortal: Combining Cloning and Stem-Cell Therapy and a number of other aging research publications. [09/26/05]


Rafal Smigrodzki, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Clinical Officer, Gencia Company; Charlottesville VA, publications on aging and genetics research [5/24/05]


Michael D. West, Ph.D.
Founder of Geron Corporation; Director of Biotime, Inc., BioMarker Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and the Life Extension Foundation; President of Advanced Cell Technology, Inc.; Author of The Immortal Cell: One Scientist's Quest to Solve the Mystery of Human Aging. [04/18/05]


Prof. Jan Vijg
Principal investigator at the Functional Genomics of Aging research program which is located at the South Texas Center for Biology in Medicine at the Texas Research Park. It is part of the Sam and Ann Barshop Center for Longevity and Aging Studies. [04/21/05]


Prof. Thomas von Zglinicki
Professor of Cellular Gerontology, University of Newcastle;
Henry Wellcome Laboratory for Biogerontology, Newcastle General Hospital; extensive publications on aging and telomere research. [04/17/05]




Signatures From Additional Leading Scientists


Nick Bostrom, Ph.D.
Director, Oxford Future of Humanity Institute, Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford University. [09/29/05]


Daniel Crevier, Ph.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Former professor, McGill University, Université du Québec.; Founder: Coreco Inc.; Author, AI: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence. Basic Books. [09/29/05]


Gregory Fahy, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer, Vice President; 21st Century Medicine, Inc.; Published a number of articles on organ perfusion, vitrification and cryopreservation. [06/11/05]


Robert A. Freitas Jr., J.D.
Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Molecular Manufacturing; Author of Nanomedicine and Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines. [10/01/05]


Ben Goertzel, Ph.D.
Ph.D. in Mathematics from Temple University; Chief Scientific Officer, Biomind LLC, creating AI-based software for the analysis of gene expression data. [04/27/05]


Amara Graps, Ph.D.
Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Heidelberg, Germany; Planetary scientist at the Institute of the Physics of Interplanetary Space in Rome, Italy; Published articles on astronomical dust physics and charging and scientific computing. [09/30/05]


Robin Hanson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Economics, George Mason University [09/29/05]


James J. Hughes, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies; author Citizen Cyborg; Public Policy Studies, Trinity College, Hartford Connecticut. [04/29/05]


Subhash C. Kak, Ph.D.
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. [09/30/05]


James B. Lewis, Ph.D.
(Chemistry, Harvard) Senior Research Investigator (retired); Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute; Seattle, WA [09/29/05]


Max More, Ph.D.
Founder, Extropy Institute; Author of the Proactionary Principle; Austin, TX [09/29/05]


Brad F. Mellon, STM, Ph.D.
Chair of the Ethics Committee; Frederick Mennonite Community; Frederick, PA [09/29/09]


Steve Omohundro, Ph.D.
(Physics, University of California at Berkeley) Past computer science professor at the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana; President, Self-Aware Systems [09/29/05]


Martine Rothblatt, Ph.D., J.D., M.B.A.
Responsible for launching several satellite communications companies including Sirius and WorldSpace. Founder and CEO of United Therapeutics. Lead the International Bar Association's project to develop a draft Human Genome Treaty for the United Nations. Filed the first court motion on AI Legal Rights. [07/02/05]


Sergey V. Sheleg, M.D., Ph.D.,
Chief Research Scientist, Alcor Life Extension Foundation; M.D. from the Belarus State Medical University and Ph.D. in Oncology from N.N. Alexandrov Research Institute of Oncology and Medical Radiology (Lesnoy, Belarus). More than 20 published papers in the fields of neuro-ocology, neuro-infectious diseases, brain anoxia, and molecular cell biology [09/30/05]


Gregory Stock, Ph.D.
Ph.D. in Biophysics from Johns Hopkins University; MBA from Harvard; Director of the Program on Medicine, Technology, and Society at UCLA’s School of Public Health; Author of Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future. [04/06/05]


Brian Wowk, Ph.D.
Ph.D. in Medical Physics from the University of Manitoba, Canada; Senior Scientist 21st Century Medicine, Inc.; Published a number of articles on medical physics, vitrification and cryopreservation. [04/23/05]



Publications on the Plasticity of Aging

2005 Advances in understanding aging processes and their consequences are leading to the development of therapies to slow or reverse adverse changes formerly considered to be “normal” aging and processes that underlie multiple age-related conditions. Estimating the effectiveness of candidate aging therapies, whose effects on human aging may require many years to determine, is a particular challenge. Evan C. Hadley, Edward G. Lakatta, Marcelle Morrison-Bogorad, Huber R. Warner, and Richard J. Hodes; Cell, Vol 120, 557-567, 25 February 2005.


2005 Mutations in genes affecting endocrine signaling, stress responses, metabolism, and telomeres can all increase the life spans of model organisms. The Plasticity of Aging: Insights from Long-Lived Mutants. Cynthia Kenyon. Cell, Vol 120, 449-460, 25 February 2005.


2004 Ames dwarf mice (Prop1df/df) and Little mice (Ghrhrlit/lit) are used as models of delayed aging and show significant increases in lifespan (50% and 25%, respectively) when compared with their wild-type siblings. Amador-Noguez D, Yagi K, Venable S, Darlington G. Aging Cell. 2004 Dec;3(6):423-41.


2004 In humans, long-term calorie restriction is highly effective in reducing the risk for atherosclerosis. Fontana L, Meyer TE, Klein S, Holloszy JO. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Apr 27;101(17):6659-63.


2003 In RNAi-treated C. elegans, when the reproductive systems is removed, they lived six times as long as normal. Whereas the mean life-span of wild type was 20 days, these animals had mean life-spans of 124 days. Healthy animals with extreme longevity. Arantes-Oliveira N, Berman JR, Kenyon C. Science. 2003 Oct 24;302(5645):611.


2003 In yeast (S. cerevisiae), overexpression of PNC1 extends the replicative life span by 70% in a Sir2-dependent manner. Kevin J. Bitterman, Oliver Medvedik, and David A. Sinclair; Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 2003 September; 67(3): 376–399.


2003 In humans, Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by features reminiscent of marked premature ageing. The discovery of the molecular basis of this disease may shed light on the general phenomenon of human ageing. Eriksson M, Brown WT, Gordon LB, Glynn MW, Singer J, Scott L, Erdos MR, Robbins CM, Moses TY, Berglund P, Dutra A, Pak E, Durkin S, Csoka AB, Boehnke M, Glover TW, Collins FS. Nature. 2003 May 15;423(6937):293-8.


2002 Indefinite postponement of aging – which we term "engineered negligible senescence" – may be within sight. Given the major demographic consequences if it came about, this possibility merits urgent debate. Time to Talk SENS: Critiquing the Immutability of Human Aging; Aubrey D. N. J. de Grey, Bruce N. Ames, Julie K. Andersen, Andrzej Bartke, Judith Campisi, Christopher B. Heward, Roger J. M. McCarter and Gregory Stock; Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 959:452-462 (2002)


2001 Mutant mice with a combined deficiency of growth hormone (GH), prolactin, and thyrotropin, and knockout mice with GH resistance, live longer than their normal siblings. The extension of life span in these animals is very large (up to 65%), reproducible, and not limited to any particular genetic background or husbandry conditions. Bartke A, Coschigano K, Kopchick J, Chandrashekar V, Mattison J, Kinney B, Hauck S. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2001 Aug;56(:B340-9.


2001 Mice homozygous for loss-of-function mutations at the Pit1 (Snell dwarf) locus show a >40% increase in mean and maximal longevity on the relatively long-lived (C3H/HeJ x DW/J)F(1) background. Findings demonstrate that a single gene can control maximum lifespan and the timing of both cellular and extracellular senescence in a mammal. Flurkey K, Papaconstantinou J, Miller RA, Harrison DE. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Jun 5;98(12):6736-41.


2000 In Drosophila, five independent P-element insertional mutations in a single gene resulted in a near doubling of the average adult life-span without a decline in fertility or physical activity. Rogina B, Reenan RA, Nilsen SP, Helfand SL.; Science. 2000 Dec 15;290(5499):2137-40.


1999 In mice, suppression of p66shc protein extends the life span by 30%. Migliaccio E, Giorgio M, Mele S, Pelicci G, Reboldi P, Pandolfi PP, Lanfrancone L, Pelicci PG.; Nature. 1999 Nov 18;402(6759):309-13.


1998 Low caloric intake (caloric restriction) can lengthen the life span of a wide range of animals and possibly even of humans. Specific mutations significantly lengthen life span by up to 50%. Lakowski B, Hekimi S.; Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998 Oct 27;95(22):13091-6.


1998 In Drosophila, overexpression of a single gene, SOD1, in a single cell type, the motorneuron, extends normal lifespan by up to 40% and rescues the lifespan of a short-lived Sod null mutant. Parkes TL, Elia AJ, Dickinson D, Hilliker AJ, Phillips JP, Boulianne GL.; Nat Genet. 1998 Jun;19(2):171-4.


1993 Mutations in the gene daf-2 can cause C. elegans to live more than twice as long as wild type. Kenyon, C.J., Chang, Gensch, E., J. Rudner, A. and Tabtiang, R.; Nature. 1993 Dec 2;366(6454):461-4.



CureAging.org: Independent Open Letter in Support of Aging Research

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