Highlighting the contributions of NOMIS Awardee Tony Wyss-Coray, a sponsored feature in Science provides an in-depth look at the current state of research into the aging process. Wyss-Coray’s research explores brain aging and neurodegeneration, focusing on age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. An excerpt of the story follows.
The day we are born, the aging clock starts ticking. It may tick faster or slower depending on our genes, the good and bad habits we pick up in life, or just plain luck—but it always moves inexorably forward until the day we die.
The aging process is not fully outside of human control, however. And over the past few decades, researchers have uncovered some intriguing mechanisms that could one day be exploited to slow or potentially even reset the clock for key determinants of the aging process.
In 2014, for example, researchers led by Stanford University neuroscientist Tony Wyss-Coray performed experiments in which they infused old mice with blood from young animals—a technique known as parabiosis. The effects were striking, with the treated mice showing increased growth and connectivity among brain cells, and clear improvements in memory and cognition. Between 2017 and 2022, the Switzerland-based NOMIS Foundation would fund efforts by Wyss-Coray’s group to identify specific blood-borne molecules that can facilitate similar “rejuvenation” of the brain in humans.
This notion is still not universally embraced. “I think the general concept that age is malleable is something that has only recently sort of become acknowledged by most scientists,” says Wyss-Coray. “I think there’s still many who have not heard about it or are surprised about it.” But the implications could be tremendous and far-reaching.
Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, notes that the benefits of increasing the number of healthy years that humans can experience go well beyond public health and individual quality of life. “If they’re not in the hospital, where are they? They are traveling, they’re shopping, they have a contribution to the economy,” says Barzilai. As an example, he cites research from Andrew Scott at the London Business School suggesting that extending the healthy lifespan of humans could generate tens of trillions of dollars of economic activity.
But before humanity can achieve that potential, researchers must crack the many remaining mysteries underlying the aging process—and learn how to translate those into treatments. Fortunately, the field is rapidly making headway, thanks to innovative research powered by growing investment from government agencies, industry, and organizations like the NOMIS Foundation.
Continue reading this Science feature: Infusing new energy into the field of aging research
