X-Message-Number: 17433
From: "George Smith" <>
References: <>
Subject: Chromosome 4
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 12:16:36 -0700

I had been waiting for the bio professionals on the Cryonet to comment on
the discovery announced on Tuesday.

The silence has been deafening.

It seemed to me to be probably the most important life extension discovery
made to date.

What do you think?

http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/08/28/wgene28.x
ml

In part the article read:

Gene 'pill' could help people live to be a hundred
By Ben Fenton in Washington
(Filed: 28/08/2001)


SCIENTISTS who studied the genetic make-up of dozens of centenarians said
yesterday that they have taken the first step towards creating a pill to
make people live longer.

More than 500 years after the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon searched the
coast of Florida looking for the legendary fountain of youth, American
geneticists believe they have found the blueprint of a healthy long life.

Researchers at Harvard University and two Boston hospitals studied the genes
of 137 people aged 98 or more, and their siblings, and concluded that
chromosome number 4 almost certainly harbours the key to longevity.

In all cases, the people in the study were not only very old, but also
active, in good health and so able to enjoy the benefits of living much
longer than most people.

The scientists published their findings in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences yesterday. <clip>

-George Smith
CI member

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