The $1 Million Race For The Cure To End Aging

The hypothesis is so absurd it seems as though it popped right off the pages of a science-fiction novel. Some scientists in Palo Alto are offering a $1 million prize to anyone who can end aging. Based on the rapid rate of biomedical breakthroughs, we believe the question is not if we can crack the aging code, but when will it happen, says director of the Palo Alto Longevity Prize Keith Powers.

Its a fantastical idea: curing the one thing we will all surely die of if nothing else gets us before that. I sat down with Aubrey de Grey, the chief science officer of theSENS Research Foundationand co-author of Ending Aging, to discuss this very topic a few days back. According to him, ending aging comes with the promise to not just stop the hands of time, but to actually reverse the clock. We could, according to him, actually choose the age wed like to exist at for the rest of our (unnatural?) lives. But we are far off from possibly seeing this happen in our lifetime, says de Grey. With sufficient funding we have a 50/50 chance to getting this all working within the next 25 years, but it could also happen in the next 100, he says.

If you ask Ray Kurzweil, life extension expert, futurist and part-time adviser to Googles somewhat stealth Calico project, were actually tip-toeing upon the cusp of living forever. Well get to a point about 15 years from now where were adding more than a year every year to your life expectancy, he told the New York Times in early 2013. He also wrote in the book he co-authored with Terry Grossman, M.D., that Immortality is within our grasp. Thats a bit optimistic to de Grey (the two are good friends), but hes not surprised this prize is coming out of Silicon Valley. Things are changing here first. We have a high density of visionaries who like to think high.

And he believes much of what Kurzweil says is true with the right funding. Give me large amounts of money to get the research to happen faster, says de Grey. He then points out that Googles Calico funds are virtually unlimited. Kurzweil asked Larry [Page] and Sergey [Brin] how much he had to work with and they said to let him know when he runs out of money and theyll send more, de Grey tells me.

Whether its 15, 25 or even 100 years off, we need to spur a revolution in aging research, according to Joon Yun, one of the sponsors of the prize. The aim of the prize is to catalyze that revolution, says Yun. His (very well-connected) nanny actually came up with the initial idea. She just happens to be an acquaintance of Wendy Schmidt, wife of Googles Eric Schmidt. But it was the passing of Yuns 68-year-old father-in-law and some conversations with his friends that got him thinking about how to take on aging as a whole.

The Palo Alto Prize is also working with a number of angel investors, venture capital firms, corporate venture arms, institutions and private foundations within Silicon Valley to create health-related incentive prize competitions in the future. This first $1 million prize comes from Yuns own pockets.

The initial prize will be divided into two $500,000 awards. Half a million dollars will go to the first team to demonstrate that it can restore heart rate variability (HRV) to that of a young adult. The other half of the $1million will be awarded to the first team that can extend lifespan by 50 percent. So far 11 teams from all over the world have signed up for the challenge.

All 11 teams are listed below for those interested in following along:

Doris Taylor, Ph.D. Texas Heart Institute, Houston, TX http://paloaltoprize.com/team/team-taylor-lab/ TEAM NAME: T.H.I. REGENERATIVE MEDICINE (approach: stem cells)

Dongsheng Cai, M.D., Ph.D. Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY http://paloaltoprize.com/team/cai-lab/ TEAM NAME: CAI LAB (approach: hypothalamic regulation)

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The $1 Million Race For The Cure To End Aging