All living things grow old and eventually die, it’s just the natural order of things. However researchers at the Rejuvenate Bio startup want to change that, or at least prolong our lives. This will be done through gene therapy in which they have already begun their tests on man’s best friend, dogs.According to the startup’s co-founder, George Church of Harvard Medical School who spoke to podcaster Rob Reid earlier this year, the initial trials involved mice and they have since moved onto dogs, with plans to eventually start testing their findings on humans. “We have already done a bunch of trials in mice and we are doing some in dogs, and then we’ll move on to humans.”
This is based on certain clues that they have found in organisms such as worms and flies, where tweaking their genes can double their life span. They have also found that giving older mice blood transfusion from younger mice can also restore some biomarkers to youthful levels. So far it is unclear as to whether or not the tests on the dogs have been successful.
However the company has won a grant from the US Special Operations Command to look into the enhancement of military dogs. The company will also be looking into how to stop fatal heart ailments that are commonly found in spaniels and Doberman pinschers, and using those findings to potentially apply to human ailments as well.