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Posted on Oct 11, 2017, 5 p.m.
Australian expat biologist and geneticist David Sinclair has been soliciting business people, politicians and scientists in Boston to help fund his anti-aging project. His goal: One Million dollars.
Professor Sinclair, founding director of the Paul F Glenn Center for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging at Harvard University states: "Our goal is to alleviate human suffering in old age. It's a moon shot but we think we have the technology. It's easy to do in a mouse, now it's about translating that into humans. It's not a question of if, but when."
Professor Sinclair has teamed up with a young scientist from Sidney, Australia, Lindsay Wu. The pair launched the research project in July this year. Dr Wu is one of many reasons why he has been named one of 10 winners of the 2017 Advance Global Australian Awards.
Professor Sinclair, who moved to the US 20 years ago, has been working most of his professional life on anti-aging; he states: “An anti-ageing drug may be on the market within a few years.”
After he left Sydney in the 90s, Sinclair took a position at the Massachusetts Institute with Dr Leonard Guarente. There they discovered the genetic cause for ageing in yeast and enzymes. In 2003, he found that one of those enzymes could be activated by a substance in red wine. While Forbes magazine dubbed it a $40 billion drug, other scientists disputed his findings. This past March, with Dr Wu and their team were able to reverse the ageing process in mice through DNA repair.
Sinclair says, "It's still seen as science fiction but there's a tidal wave coming and as a society we need to start talking about what this is going to mean. It's going to change retirement, your career, even having families. We're thinking about technology to extend the period of female fertility. Ageing research isn't just about being old."
Professor Sinclair has created 35 patents and several pharmaceutical companies, one which sold for sold for $720 million dollars. As to why he lives and works here instead of Australia, he says, "What's lacking [in Australia] is investors willing to take a risk. Over here, if you have a great idea and you've got good science, you can find money to try that idea.” He feels there are more people with investment money in Boston and the US than in his own home country.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/there-is-a-tidal-wave-coming-antiageing-australian-expat-on-billiondollar-quest-20170928-gyr1bn.html
By: Dr. Michael J. Koch, Editor for www.WorldHealth.net and Dr. Ronald Klatz, DO, MD President of the A4M which has 28,000 Physician Members, and has trained over 150,000 physicians, health professionals and scientists around the world in the new specialty of Anti-Aging Medicine. A4M physicians are now providing advanced preventative medical care for over 10’s of Million individuals worldwide who now recognize that aging is no longer inevitable.
