Product and Services

The core of LifeGen’s R&D effort lies in using gene chips to establish the world’s largest database on gene expression alterations associated with aging, its retardation by CR, and its modification by pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. In addition to identifying and cataloging aging-related changes in gene expression, LifeGen is determining the functions of these genes, the proteins they produce, and the ways they interact to cause aging. A critical element of this research plan is the identification of genes that mediate the effects of CR on aging retardation. These genes could hold the genetic basis to longevity.

After identifying several genes involved in aging, LifeGen will investigate how they affect vital biochemical and physiological processes. Importantly, changing the activity of only one or two genes affecting a small number of cells in nematodes (very small worms) more than doubled their life span. These findings suggest that aging may be controlled by a small number of regulatory genes that trigger a cascade of time-related genetic changes. LifeGen will seek to determine if such a regulated genetic cascade occurs in mammals, including humans, and, if it does, will attempt to control the activity of the triggering regulatory genes in an effort to retard aging and to extend maximum life span.