How scientists are trying to come up with a way to preserve youth

Scientists from the Russian Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry have discovered a toxin in the venom of the Burmese viper that rejuvenates the skin. Specialists from Moscow State University are completing tests of an anti-aging drug.

About what other drugs of youth are being developed by scientists and who became the first genetically modified person in the world, tells program “Science and Technology” with Mikhail Borzenkov on REN TV.

Forced euthanasia

Japanese pensioners were offered to commit mass suicide, and if they refuse, to introduce forced euthanasia for the elderly in Japan. This was done by Yusuke Narita, assistant professor of economics at Yale University, who was born in the Land of the Rising Sun.

“Many Japanese have to give most of their earnings to the maintenance of elderly relatives, the country’s GDP is rapidly declining. So why don’t the old people voluntarily die so as not to burden either their relatives or the state”Yusuke Narita said.

Narita expressed this idea to a journalist of one of the American publications a year and a half ago. When the hype arose, the economist tried to justify himself: he said that the words were taken out of context, and he only talked about possible ways to solve the problem of a rapidly aging Japan. By 2025, the country will have two dependents for three working citizens, and a third of the state budget will go to social payments.

“We are the oldest nation in the world. The average age is constantly rising and the birth rate is falling. The youth simply cannot feed the old. Japan is on the verge of whether we can continue to function as a society.”said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Planned euthanasia of the elderly is what science fiction writers frightened us with. If they were right, then a rational and soulless society of the future may well become a reality.

The world’s first genetically modified human

But there is another way out – not to get rid of the elderly, but to give people up to 100 years of age the opportunity to remain young and able-bodied. And in this humanity can help lobsters. If not for the prospect of being on the table in a restaurant, these arthropods could live forever and never grow old.

“At the ends of chromosomes there is a special biological clock – telomeres. They are shortened with each cell division and depleted after 60 cycles. And the body begins to age. This happens with all living creatures, except for lobsters. Their body has telomerase – a special enzyme that allows you to grow telomeres again and stay forever young”– explained cytogeneticist, Nobel Prize winner in physiology or medicine, Elizabeth Blackburn.

It sounds incredible, but the Earth already has the first forever young person – 54-year-old Elizabeth Parrish. In 2015, she decided to inject an experimental drug – telomerase, and illegally. The experiment was set up immediately after the test on mice, while according to the medical protocol, years of testing should have elapsed between these two events.

Elizabeth is the head of a pharmaceutical company, and she was well aware that the drug can cause uncontrolled cell division and provoke oncology. But she took the risk anyway.

“Some colleagues called me and warned me that I would have 13 days left after the injection. Well, this may become true. We’ll see.”Parrish said.

While the experiment is successful, the biological age of the woman has decreased by 20 years. Elizabeth herself claims that she did not carry out any cosmetic manipulations to look like that. In 2021, despite warnings from family and friends, she received a second injection.

“I have to go to the corner, grab my face, start shaking. Of course, this will not happen. To look old means to be sick”– says the world’s first genetically modified person.

Stem cell injections

However, it is too early to judge the safety of the drug. Remember the story of stem cells: in the late 90s, they were so publicized that thousands of people rushed to do anti-aging injections. And a few years later they started talking about the fact that the so-called youth injections provoke the growth of malignant tumors.

“It has not yet been possible to directly prove the connection. But among those who injected stem cells, the number of cases of oncology is frighteningly high. Recently, an experiment was conducted in St. tumors”– said Robert Rees, professor at the Center for Cancer Research at the University of Nottingham.

“Ions of Skulachev”

Russia has developed a harmless way to become younger. A group of scientists led by Academician Skulachev made a real breakthrough. They figured out how to neutralize free radicals, single-electron molecules that tend to react with anything that gets in their way. In the human body, they destroy cell membranes and damage DNA. And the number of dangerous free radicals increases with age.

“Aging is a disease like any other. And it needs to be treated”– says Vladimir Skulachev, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Honored Professor of Moscow State University.

The researchers were able to create a powerful antioxidant that neutralizes the aging molecules where they are formed – in the mitochondria. The miraculous elixir is called “Skulachev’s ions”. On its basis, eye drops and creams are already being produced. In the next 10 years, they promise to launch a universal anti-aging drug.

“SkQ is an artificial antioxidant that kills already formed growth. This is already a matter of technology. Maybe someone will be lucky and he will be the author of such a wonderful pill. But another thing is important – we have reached this level”Skulachev emphasized.

Burmese viper venom

The Burmese viper can also help keep us young. The fact is that the poison of this snake is unusually toxic. In ancient times, arrowheads were coated with it to instantly defeat enemies. And today, scientists have figured out how to use a deadly substance in the war against old age.

“A compound that can relax muscles but is not highly toxic could be used in cosmetics to relax facial muscles and smooth wrinkles.”– explained Yuri Utkin, Doctor of Chemical Sciences, Head of the Laboratory of Molecular Toxinology at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

It turns out that the natural toxin works like the popular Botox, but without any injections. That’s just the Burmese viper – the rarest snake on the planet. It is very difficult to meet her in nature. It is completely impossible to establish an industrial production of a rejuvenating cream with poison.

An artificial copy of the toxin

The Russian Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry has figured out how to create an artificial copy of a unique toxin.

“The use is only necessary in the early stages to isolate compounds. You can do without snakes, now there are opportunities using protein engineering to produce such proteins in bacterial cells”the chemist emphasized.

While scientists around the world are looking for ways to prolong youth, nature itself has figured out how to turn back time. Astrophysicists have made a sensational statement: the speed of the Earth’s rotation has increased, therefore, time on the planet has slowed down. Already in 2028, we will have to turn the clock back a second, and we will all, at least a little, but look younger.

About the most incredible achievements of progress, the discoveries of scientists, innovations that can change the future of mankind, see the program “Science and Technology” with host Mikhail Borzenkov on REN TV.