"I'm not a young scientist anymore, and I'm here today on behalf of old scientists." This lovely self-deprecation comes from Professor Erwin Nell, winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. On the afternoon of November 2, the Centenary Forum of the World's Top Scientists was held. How do scientists view aging? How do you get along with your ageing self?
In addition to Nell, Franz-Ulrich Hartl, winner of the 2011 Lasker Prize for Basic Medical Research, Michael Hall, winner of the 2017 Lasker Prize for Basic Medical Research, Hans Cleves, winner of the 2013 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, and Mei Tian, professor of the Institute of Human Phenotyping at Fudan University, contributed their own unique thinking at the Centennial Forum.
The mystery of aging has not been fully revealed
Why do humans age? Why can't humans survive forever? Hall answers this question from the perspective of evolutionary pressure, when people had no competitive survival pressure 100 years ago, life expectancy was much shorter than it is today. Now that we live longer, perhaps the pressure to nurture the next generation, the next generation, is one of the reasons.
Nell, who can be called the "most vocal" at the forum, expressed his perception of "getting old". Nell, 77, is still working on his research since his retirement. Only by solving and delaying aging and the health problems it brings can he better continue his research and prolong his life as a researcher. "Now, my workload has been reduced a lot, but I believe there are still many ways to keep us active. Staying active is very important, and not thinking is equivalent to retiring mentally. ”
"However, some researchers say that the average life expectancy of Nobel laureates is longer than that of ordinary people, so your scientific career may be longer than other scientists." Professor Hartl quipped to Professor Nell. "Maybe it's because Nobel laureates eat more chocolate than others?" Has anyone studied whether chocolate has health-maintaining benefits? Professor Nell said while "picking up the stem" that the aging mechanism of human beings is indeed affected by many factors, and its mystery has not been fully revealed.
Aging is not a patent of humans, and attempts to resist and delay aging are not only carried out in humans. Rapamycin, for example, has been shown to be a drug that can delay aging in experimental mice, but a series of ethical questions such as whether it can be used in humans, whether it will have long-term side effects, and who can obtain its right to use, have further complicated this discussion.
Looking at human aging at the molecular level
How do wrinkles, silver hair, and sluggishness, the daily signs of aging, manifest at the molecular level? Top scientists have explored the influencing factors of aging and effective interventions from a scientific perspective.
Hartle said most proteins need to be folded to function, and that miscaching and losing integrity of proteins can portend aging in the human body and be associated with neurodegenerative diseases. "Our research direction is to improve the protein to achieve a steady state, so that the folding of the protein is also balanced."
Hall, on the other hand, approaches from a metabolic point of view, introducing that the mammalian rapamycin target protein (mTOR) is a substance that controls human metabolism and is also a nutrient. On the one hand, it can control the metabolism of cells, such as cell growth and apoptosis; on the other hand, it also affects the synthesis of proteins and lipids. As a result, it affects complex signal networks and provides effective nutrient perception signaling pathways, which are associated with numerous diseases. Hall's research hopes to affect human longevity by controlling it.
Stem cell transplantation has been a hot area of research in recent years, can stem cell transplantation "replace" or "repair" aging organs? It's a bold idea. Clives and his research team are working on growing stem cells in a laboratory setting, growing new organs, and then transplanting them into the human body. This idea is easier said than done, and the cost of research is quite expensive, and the relevant methods may be applied in more fields in the future, such as in cancer treatment.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Huang Haihua Text Editor: Shi Jiani
Source: Author: Shi Jiani