Buck Anti-Aging Institute In Pursuit Of Longevity

During the next four years, scientists at the Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato will screen 120,000 chemical compounds, hopeful of finding as many as 100 that could help fulfill one of the ultimate challenges to modem technology. That challenge is extending the human life and the quality of life itself. A $1.7 million grant from a Petaluma California foundation and high-tech machinery, yeast and primitive may help unravel the mysteries of aging.

Gordon Lithgow, a Buck associate professor and project leader said “It’s almost like a no-brainer,” describing the proposition that hundreds of substances could boost the longevity of simple animals. This is nothing less than learning to manipulate the aging process in humans, thereby preventing or postponing age-related conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis and diabetes as well as other — maladies.

Several life-extending agents, such as antioxidants and resveratrol, the red wine ingredient, have been identified. But simple logistics — handling thousands of nearly microscopic roundworms, for example — had stood in the way of a massive hunt. No one has gone out and searched chemical space according to Mr. Lithgow, a Scottish molecular gerontologist.