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Posted on Jun 27, 2005, 7 a.m.
By Bill Freeman
An article from Genomics & Proteomics takes a broad look at changes in gene expression with aging - and hints of ways in which to intervene in the process. Interestingly, there is mention of developing biomarkers for physiological age: "We just now have molecular markers for aging in the kidney. If I did the same thing, we could have molecular markers for aging in the muscle, liver, or skin. These markers don't tell how many years you've lived; they tell your relative health.
As they learn more about the genetic reasons for aging and cell death, researchers have already made aging a “curable disease” in model organisms. If similar successes can be achieved in humans, science will once again confront an ethical barrier.
Whether Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon actually set out to find the Fountain of Youth in 1513 is an interesting and unsolvable debate. Some accounts, including elementary school textbooks, state this pursuit as fact. Others, including the online working resource Wikipedia, state flatly that "the popular story that Ponce de Leon was searching for the Fountain of Youth is misconceived."
Some 500 years later, Ponce de Leon's fabled quest continues to fascinate humankind and, in its own way, drive scientific research. This is not the search for a mythological body of water, but rather, a figurative fountain in the form of gene expression research. It's too late to help Ponce de Leon, but it could offer his ancestors the chance to live longer and healthier lives.
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