Super longevity: Can we play God? | Dr. Morgan Levine

Science can’t stop aging, but it may be able to slow our epigenetic clocks.

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What if we could slow down the hands of our biological clocks? This question underpins much of the research of Morgan Levine, who leads a research team at the life science company Altos Labs.

Levine investigates the fascinating intricacies of aging, recognizing that it doesn't happen at a uniform pace for everyone. Central to her exploration is the concept of epigenetics — the factors that influence gene activity without changing the DNA sequence. Levine focuses on DNA methylation, a significant epigenetic change that occurs with aging, and the development of models called "epigenetic clocks" that can be used to predict biological age.

While she acknowledges that it might be possible to reverse aging at a cellular level, Levine clarifies that the ultimate goal is not to "cure" aging or death, but to delay disease onset and improve healthspan.

0:00 Fast agers & slow agers
1:25 The hallmarks of aging
1:59 What is the epigenetic clock?
3:05 Can we ‘Benjamin Button’ aging?
5:22 The holy grail for scientists

Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/explain-it-like-im-smart/epigenetics-and-aging/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description

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About Morgan Levine:
Morgan Levine was previously a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the department of Pathology at Yale University where she ran the Laboratory for Aging in Living Systems. In 2022, she was recruited to join Altos Labs as a Founding Principal Investigator at the San Diego Institute of Science. She currently leads a research group at Altos Labs working at the intersection of bioinformatics, cellular biology, complex systems, and biostatistics with the overall goal of understanding the molecular trajectories aging cells, tissues, and organisms take through time.

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Read more of our stories on aging:
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Blood test can calculate your true biological age
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The brain undergoes a great “rewiring” after age 40
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