 If someone were to tell you that they were convinced that aging could be prevented within 20 years, you'd probably be skeptical. If that person were a leading scientist, working with the best technology and billions in funding, maybe they're worth listening to. Well, that's exactly what happened. We'll tell you more in this episode of Lifespan News. As we've covered, Altos Labs recently exited stealth mode to announce $3 billion in funding, reportedly from investors including Jeff Bezos, and a team full of Nobel Prize winners and pioneering scientists. However, the secret of companies representatives insists that Altos is not an anti-aging or longevity company. Despite this, a key member of their scientific leadership recently publicly stated that he has convinced that, using the same technology they're working with at Altos, we will be able to prevent aging within 20 years. The scientist making these bold claims is Juan Carlos Izpizua Belmonte, a Spanish biochemist and biologist who has spent nearly 30 years pioneering innovations in developmental biology, regenerative medicine, and aging research at the Salk Institute. Among the work that Belmonte is most associated with is cellular reprogramming. As a very brief background, in 2006 a study showed that it was possible to reprogram cells using just 4 master genes. These 4 reprogramming factors are often called the Yamanaka factors after one of their discoverers, Shinya Yamanaka, who also happens to be part of the Altos Labs team. Belmonte built upon this work with a promising study in 2016. Here's how it was described by Science to Save the World. Some researchers believe that it might be possible to avoid cancer and reverse aging in old cells without completely reverting them to pluripotency. In other words, they thought there was a way for us to have our cake and eat it too, but no one had successfully managed to achieve this in living animals. This was all about the change in December 2016. Professor Juan Carlos Izpizua Belmonte and his team of researchers at the Salk Institute reported the conclusion of their study which showed for the first time that the cells and organs of a living animal could be rejuvenated. After just 6 weeks of this treatment, which steadily reprogrammed the cells of the mice, the researchers noticed improvements in their appearance, including reduced age-related spinal curvature. The control mice showed a range of age-related changes compared to the treated mice, which had a number of aging signs halted or even reversed, including some epigenetic alterations. The treated mice also experienced a 50% increase in their mean survival time in comparison to untreated progeric control mice. So Belmonte and his team of researchers demonstrated that the cells and organs of a living animal could be rejuvenated using cellular reprogramming. In the years following this research, their work continued, and it was speculated that Belmonte and his colleagues may spin out a biotech startup based on this research. Instead, it was announced in January of 2022 that Belmonte would be leaving the Salk Institute to become the director of Altos Labs San Diego Institute of Science. Altos Labs says that they are focused on cellular rejuvenation programming to restore cell health and resilience with the goal of reversing disease to transform medicine. Ultimately, it sounds like they are working with Yamanaka factors to master cellular reprogramming, or perhaps more accurately, partial cellular reprogramming in humans. Recently, Belmonte published new research, which, like his 2016 work, involved living mice. The work was published in the journal Nature Aging and showed that intermittently activating the Yamanaka factors in middle-aged healthy mice led to rejuvenating effects in different tissues, such as the kidney and skin. Belmonte is already planning similar work in monkeys, and believes that it could translate to humans as well. He spoke about it to the Spanish newspaper, Alpais. We can program and rejuvenate the tissues and organs of animals with different pathologies, as well as rejuvenate their cells. Conceptually, I find no reason that stops us from thinking that similar results cannot be achieved in humans, both with respect to improving the course of many diseases and with the rise in the length and quality of life. Indeed, we have already demonstrated this within vitro human cells. Then came this bold prediction. I am convinced that within two decades, we will have tools that not only treat symptoms, but also can predict, prevent, and treat diseases and aging through cellular rejuvenation. He is saying that he is convinced that within 20 years, so by 2042, we'll be able to treat aging. Belmonte also made it clear that, despite the concerns that may exist in the general public, this technology is not expected to be only for the rich. Our end goal is to find new forms of helping everyone to slow or even reverse the processes that lead to disease. Our interest is in advancing in this area of knowledge, and opening the field as wide as possible, so that over time, everyone can benefit. He also made an argument similar to one that Altos Labs might make when insisting that they are not an anti-aging or longevity company. The idea behind our investigations is not so that human beings live 100 or 1000 years more. If we are able to prolong life without improving the quality of these years, not only would it be morally questionable, but also I would question what purpose it would serve. Our main goal is to enable people to have a healthier life for a longer period of time, and to reverse illness in patients of all ages. I think we're splitting hairs here, but if you can treat aging in 20 years, I don't care if you call yourself a tire shop. It's the results that matter, and it's the results that we'll be watching closely. When there's more to share, we'll have it here. I'm Ryan O'Shea, and we'll see you next time on Lifespan News.