Aubrey de Grey, founder of the LEV Foundation, outlines groundbreaking research on achieving Longevity Escape Velocity (LEV) through combinatorial rejuvenation strategies in mice. His talk focuses on leveraging damage repair interventions to extend both healthspan and lifespan.

Key Points:

Aubrey de Grey’s work underscores the potential of combinatorial damage repair therapies to achieve LEV. These studies aim to transform how ageing is addressed, setting the stage for future human applications.

• The Robust Mouse Rejuvenation Program: De Grey introduces a pioneering study using combinatorial therapies to repair cellular damage in middle-aged mice. Unlike traditional lifespan studies starting with young mice, this research focuses on interventions at 18 months of age to reverse ageing before significant decline.
• Combinatorial Therapies and Novel Study Design: The program includes four validated interventions: heterochronic bone marrow transplants, telomerase gene therapy, senolytics, and rapamycin. The study design incorporates unique methods, such as sampling at survival-based intervals rather than fixed ages, to enhance data reliability.
• Challenges of Translational Research: The study emphasizes the difficulty of funding late-onset combinatorial studies, as they lack commercial intellectual property and academic incentives. De Grey calls for increased collaboration and support to advance similar research across the field.
• Preliminary Results and Observations: Early results show significant improvements in lifespan and healthspan for mice receiving all four interventions compared to control groups. While male and female mice showed varying responses, combinatorial therapies consistently outperformed single treatments.
• Future Directions: De Grey highlights plans for further studies, including new interventions like epigenetic reprogramming and enhanced serum albumin therapies. He also calls for collaborations to analyse tissues and optimize future combinatorial strategies.