Aging: the long road to longevity

Proteomics

Proteomics concerns the large-scale study of the protein, in particular its structures and functions. This science aims to create certain proteins from scratch in the laboratory. It could therefore be the most important medical technology developed over the next twenty "years.

In a not-too-distant scenario, a doctor could, for example, determine which protein a patient needs to recover from a certain disease by entrusting its development to a team of proteomics. The full expression of these technologies, which will not happen before 10 or 15 years, will also allow to improve the speed and accuracy of diagnoses.
The greatest difficulty of proteomics is understanding how to give the right three-dimensional conformations to the created proteins. In fact, the functionality of these macromolecules is not given only by the sequence of amino acids that compose them, but also and above all by the way in which these amino acid chains are organized in space (technical term "folding"). Currently, the efforts of scientists and computer technicians are directed towards the creation of supercomputers capable of determining how to organize the various amino acid chains together. IBM, for example, has recently introduced the Blue / Gene L, a supercomputer capable of performing 360 trillion (360 x 1018) operations per second, with the aim of understanding how the proteins in our organism get their structure three-dimensional (folding).

Cloning

There are two types of cloning, reproductive and therapeutic. In the first case, the aim is to recreate an organism that is genetically identical to the original one. This technique has already been successfully tested in animals, but not in humans, not so much for the lack of scientific skills, as for the thorny moral questions raised by this hypothesis. Just think that there is a "private company called" Genetics Savings & Clone, Inc. ", whose business is based on cloning animals for their beloved owners.
Therapeutic cloning aims to create, not so much whole organisms, but specific tissues. To do this, it uses stem cells which, once implanted in a tissue, begin to divide, giving rise to cell populations that are perfectly identical to those characterizing that particular organ or tissue. Currently, researchers are able to apply these techniques to simpler tissues, such as the cornea and urinary bladder; however, they may soon be able to extend these technologies to cloning more complex tissues and organs, such as the skin or blood vessels.

Gene Therapy

Many of the currently available therapies include interfering RNA (RNAi) and antisense RNA. However, this science is still in a primitive stage and will continue to evolve in the years to come.

Known to most as "RNA interference", this therapeutic technique is based on the "insertion into the cytoplasm of some fragments of double-stranded RNA, capable of interfering (and switch off) gene expression. In particular, the goal is to block the messenger RNA produced by "bad" genes, thus preventing them from expressing specific proteins (selective silencing of gene expression).

It is hoped that these acquisitions will pave the way towards somatic gene therapy which is the holy grail of this science. The goal of somatic gene therapy is to insert the desired genes directly into the genome. To make this hypothesis a reality, it will probably have to wait another 25 years, but when scientists are able to make the most of it they will be able to convert a single cell in the human body. (with the exception of the germ cells) in any other type of human somatic cell. In fact, each of the cells of our organism contains all the genetic patrimony necessary to give life to any other type of cell. At that point, humanity would then be able to convert, for example, fat cells into heart cells simply by manipulating their genes. Interesting advances in this field have already been made using adult stem cells. For example, hepatic stem cells have already been transformed into pancreatic cells, as well as being able to convert adult stem muscle cells into heart muscle cells, nerve tissue and vascular tissue.

All the interesting scientific and technological evolutions encountered along this second path are nothing compared to those which humanity will face taking, in 25-30 years, the third way towards longevity.