Flying High

BY Sherri Cruz

January 15 - 2014 5:45 PM

ED CRISOSTOMO

Gregory Benford

The Methuselah fruit fly lives for about four months four times longer than an ordinary fruit fly.

Theyre also more vigorous. They beat up the other flies and take their women away, says Gregory Benford, a retired UC Irvine physics professor.

Benford, 72, is co-founder of Genescient Corp., a Fountain Valley research and development company that studies fruit flies to learn how to slow human aging and aging-related diseases, such as Alzheimers.

Genescients work is based on the research of Michael Rose, a UCI professor and evolutionary biologist whos been studying aging for more than 30 years. He created the Methuselah fly breed.

Using what has been learned from the Methuselah flies, Genescient is working to develop supplements to help human genes age better. Aging is mostly the failure to repair, Benford says.

Genescients latest drug, which delays the onset of Alzheimers in fruit flies, is now being tested in humans. In October, the company began a year-long trial of the supplement with 35 human patients who are in the intermediate stage of Alzheimers.

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Flying High