The present, the past and the future of longevity research

On October 1, the world celebrated the United Nations "International Day of Older Persons". This symbolic day gives us an excellent opportunity to raise awareness about the challenges of ageing and to advocate for increasing healthy longevity in the wider public.

On this day we can say clearly and openly: the debilitating ageing process is the root cause of most chronic diseases afflicting the world population. This process causes the largest proportion of disability and mortality, and needs to be treated accordingly. Yet, it is not an inexorable process, it can be ameliorated. Society needs to dedicate efforts toward its treatment and correction, as for any other cause of illness. If given sufficient support, such measures can increase the healthy life expectancy of the aged population, the period of their productivity, their contribution to the development of society and economy, as well as their sense of enjoyment, purpose and valuation of life.

Recently, an online conference was conducted by India Future Society, a young non-profit dedicated to promotion of emerging technologies, including life-extending technologies.

A History of Longevity Research My own personal way of celebration and advocacy for the International Day of Older Persons is the publication of my new book on the history of life extension research, titled A History of Life-extensionism in the Twentieth Century. The book describes the development of life extension research in France, Germany, Austria, Romania, Switzerland, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

I wanted to show that the desire to prolong human life often constituted a strong motivation for biomedical research and discovery. The novel fields of biomedical science often had their origin in far-reaching pursuits of radical life extension. Several well-known "mainstream" therapies, such as probiotic diets, cell therapy and adjuvant immunotherapy, were born from biological research of ageing and life extension. This exemplifies the value of this research and the need to invest further resources and human interest into it.

My book examines the ideological motivations and social conditions for the pursuit of longevity. The pursuit of life extension could be adjusted to any social and national setting, to any ideology or religious belief. This was in a fact a unifying knowledge, a common belief and aspiration shared by people universally. In particular, the pursuit of longevity has a strong basis in Indian cultural tradition.

But my work is not 'purely academic', not a purely descriptive history of science but a chance to contribute to advocacy for biomedical progress, for the legitimacy and value of life extension research.

Longevity History is now One of the main arguments of my work is that the history of life extension research is far from being finished. In fact it is very much in its infancy, and its growth and development are largely in our own hands. Further developments in the field, far advanced compared to anything that could be imagined in the past, may be possible - provided that the work in this field continues and expands.

There are strong grounds for optimism for the development of this field. A large panel of basic theoretical and experimental studies (mainly in animal models) has clearly demonstrated the possibility of slowing down and even reversing the degenerative ageing processes, the feasibility of regeneration and restoration of biological functions, of a significant healthy life extension accompanied by amelioration of age related diseases. These successes encourage increased investment and effort for their expansion and reinforcement, as well as effort for their maximally rapid translation into effective, safe and universally accessible medical applications. Yet, much further research and validation will be needed for such applications to arrive!

Some of the promising research areas and key directions include: geroprotective substances; regenerative medicine; regulation of cell cycle; regulation of whole body homeostasis; detoxification at the cellular and molecular level; dietary supplementation; gene therapy and genetic and epigenetic modulation; nanomedicine; tissue engineering; artificial organ replacement and electrophysiological interfaces and stimulation; quantified self or comprehensive self-monitoring and diagnosis of age-related conditions, calculating regimens for balanced and healthy nutrition and sufficient physical activity and rest.

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The present, the past and the future of longevity research