UCSB Takes On Father Time
New Center Contributing to Remarkable
Advances in Human Longevity
By Tyler Hayden | August 22, 2024
Read the rest of our 2024 Active Aging cover story here.
There are things happening out at UC Santa Barbara that sound suspiciously sci-fi.
The genetic manipulation of tiny nematodes to increase their lifespan tenfold. A high-output BioFoundry with robotic “hands” set to conduct countless experiments on drugs that could dramatically slow the human aging clock. And research into the distinct possibility that young people today might reach 150 years of age, including the ethical and societal implications of that heady new reality.
Dr. Joel Rothman will assure you all of this is very real, not to mention incredibly exciting. “We’re at the threshold of remarkable changes in our relationship to time,” said the molecular biologist and director of the university’s new Center for Aging and Longevity Studies, or CALS. “The science has really just exploded over the last decade, and in the last two years, even more so.”
In recognition of these rapid advances, and after significant planning efforts, CALS formally launched in 2022 as one of the largest interdisciplinary centers of its kind anywhere in the United States. Its faculty and researchers come from a wide range of academic disciplines — biomedicine, engineering, computer science, sociology, psychology, anthropology, economics, and even the humanities — with the common goal of “tackling the problem of aging,” Rothman said.
The point of their research is not merely to extend human lifespan, he explained, but to lengthen people’s “healthspan” by slowing the onset of diseases that ramp up as we get older, like cancer and dementia. Someday soon, Rothman said, a simple pill could provide many more years, if not decades, of youthful vibrancy. “It’s just a matter of time,” he said.
Already, more than 100 biotech companies are working toward that holy grail of medicine, with human trials underway. Among the more promising compounds is Rapamycin, which was approved in the 1990s by the FDA for use in transplant recipients. In high doses, it suppresses the immune system; in lower doses, it’s been shown to lower inflammation and fend off age-related conditions. There’s also Metformin, a diabetes drug now being repurposed as a possible new anti-aging elixir.
As much as we know about aging, the actual process of getting older at the cellular level remains somewhat of a mystery. “It’s still not well-understood,” Rothman said. For instance, why do some insects live only a few weeks while the Greenland shark can reach the ripe old age of 500? And at Rothman’s recent high school reunion, why did some of his former classmates look 90 years old and others appear 40?
Major breakthroughs like one just announced are getting us closer to those answers. “This is the big, big one for me,” Rothman said: “The ability to reprogram cells into a more youthful state.” It was done in mice, he explained, with scientists able to alter the animals’ epigenome and “run the aging clock backward” so that two test subjects of the same age looked noticeably different. “It’s mind-blowing,” he said.
But given the vast, generational impacts of their work — at a time when the earth’s population just exceeded eight billion and the effects of climate change grow more obvious every day — Rothman and his colleagues are treading very carefully. “We’re not running headlong into this blindly,” he emphasized. “We’re looking at all sides.”
That’s why CALS and its faculty recruited from multiple disciplines are just as focused on ethics and equity as they are on experimentation. They host public discussions and debates on how enhanced human longevity will affect the planet, as well as the potential for health disparities when it comes to accessing these new anti-aging therapies. “I couldn’t run the center without considering real-world effects,” Rothman said. “We need to answer questions not just from one perspective, but from a variety of perspectives.”
What would 150-year lifespans mean for bedrock government programs like Social Security? Do we want Supreme Court justices sitting on the bench for more than a century? What if, with much longer reproductive windows, we pursued careers in our thirties and forties and then waited to have kids until our sixties and seventies? “We’re talking about a complete restructuring of the arc of people’s lives,” said Rothman, who recently spoke with a group of financial planners about rethinking their investment portfolios.
So far, most attendees of CALS events have been on the older side, Rothman noted. He hopes younger people take notice too, “Because this is going to affect them the most. We really want their engagement.”
Beginning October 10, CALS and the UCSB Alumni Association will host a public lecture series with the following presenters and topics:
— Dr. Joel Rothman: The Promise of Longevity Science and Technology
— Dr. Nicole Albada: Personal Memories and Successful Aging
— Dr. Denise Montell: Extending Life by Reducing Cellular Stress
— Dr. Michael Gurven: Lessons About Aging from Living with Hunter-Gatherers
— Dr. Nina Miolane: Healthy and Pathological Aging with Artificial Intelligence
— Dr. Karen Szumlinski: Alcohol and Accelerating Aging
Visit longevity.ucsb.edu for exact dates and times.
Rothman will also be speaking on Thursday, November 21, 1-3:30 p.m. at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall as part of the Vistas Lifelong Learning “Margerum Distinguished Speaker Program.” See vistaslifelonglearning.org for more information.
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