Price of the Mathusalem Mouse

The price of the Mouse Mathusalem ( Methuselah Mouse Prize , or Mr. Prize ) is a price which encourages research aiming at the radical deceleration of ageing, or even the renovation.

To allow those which wish it to remain young (much) longer than 80 years, until to completely banish involuntary ageing and the diseases which are to him associated , it accelerates research which aims at: to slow down, reverse Cellular ageing , and to replace the already dead cells.

Founded in 2003, it has for the moment reached 4 million dollars, thanks to gifts of private individuals or companies . Its organizers stress that all the even small gifts play a big role, also by showing the interest which is carried to this research. Methuselah Foundation allots rewards to the researchers who push back the age limits in the mouse until durations without precedent. The Mr. Prize is named according to Mathusalem, a patriarch of the Bible of which it is known as that it would have lived 969 years.

The biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey has Co-founded this project (with David Gobel). The Mr. Prize was introduced by many media, whose BBC and NewYork Times and doubled between August 2005 (1,5 million dollars) and November 2005 (3 million dollars).

Its design takes as a starting point the Ansari X Prize, which accelerated launching in the space of a Space vehicle manned reusable, at prices quite less than those related to similar projects of NASA (gained by SpaceShipOne on October 4th, 2004.). X Prize Foundation forms part of the givers besides.

Organization of the price and records current

The Foundation offers for the moment two rewards: the price longevity which encourage the increase in the total life expectancy, and the price renovation which concentrates on the interventions started at a more advanced age. These two prices are fed by the gifts. When a record is beaten, the researchers receive a reward based on the importance of the financial reserve of the moment and the percentage of lifespan gained since the preceding record.

For comparison, the natural life expectancy of the mice used (species " C57Bl/6") is of about 3 years (to simplify, the 80 years equivalent for us).

The price longevity authorizes any kind of intervention, of which crossings of species of mouse and the genetic Engineering. It is enough to present only one mouse. In 2005, the record was held by a mouse whose receiver of Growth hormone had been made inoperative: 1819 days (almost 5 years ).

The price renovation requires studies supported by independent a scientists group of expert, bearing on at least 40 animals, 20 treaties and 20 being used as controls (untreated for the comparison). The treatment can begin only starting from half of the life , and it is the intermediate duration of the life of the oldest mice (10% of the unit) which is used for the record. In 2005, a record was obtained thanks to the heating Restriction: 1356 days (about 3,7 years ).

The relatively short natural life expectancy of these mice constitutes an advantage , since one can test the methods more quickly. Other species have a higher natural life expectancy, and are thus excluded from the competition (for example, of the mice whose grandparents were captured in nature: 4 years).

Objectives and waitings

De Grey declared in March 2005: “ If we want to develop true regenerative therapies which will not profit only with the future generations, but also with those among us which are alive today, we must encourage the scientists to work on the problem of ageing. ”. William Haseltine, the pioneer of the sequencing of the Human genome, declared about the price of the Mathusalem Mouse: “ It has no effort comparable with this one there, and it already significantly contributed to the awakening that regenerative medicine is a very close reality, not an assumption ”.

The foundation thinks that when the deceleration or the inversion of cellular ageing is obtained in the mouse, of very great investments to transpose to the human being the developed techniques become available - perhaps in the form of a government project of width, comparable with the Projet human genome, or thanks to private companies. From its research in Biogérontologie, De Grey draws the conclusion that there are seven fundamental causes with human ageing, or (in its formulation) “the whole of the side effects of the Métabolisme which accumulate to us to kill. ”, and that they are all the seven reversible ones. Inter alia, they include the cellular atrophy, the cellular Mort, and the undesirable Mutations. De Grey developed a strategy of research entitled SENS, but all the effective approaches can be rewarded by the Price for the Mathusalem Mouse.

David Gobel declared: “ Historically, this kind of price produced 50 dollars of investment for each dollar in the price. The Mr. Prize is an accelerator of progress because it radically changes the perception which the public has of the inversion of the process of ageing: it is not a question any more of having " si" it will be possible, but " quand" it will be possible. It creates a finishing line that no matter who can cross in first. For the first time in the history, the control of ageing is possible. I can leave with my children a life or silver heritage. What will you choose? ”.

Internal bonds

SENS the project initiated by Aubrey de Grey the purpose of which is the radical extension of the human life expectancy.
Immortality
Ansari X Prize the model of the price of the Mathusalem Mouse.

External bonds

Official site of the price of the Mathusalem Mouse.

Methuselah Foundation news
First M-Prize awarded
Anti-aging prize signals $1 million (MSNBC, March 9th, 2005)
Genetic control off lifespan: studies from animal models
Genoa Modulating Mammalian Ageing mainly of genes identified in the mouse, since GenAge database.
Interview with BBC website, outlining views
Popular Science article
Technology Review article
Hang in There: The 25-Year Wait for Immortality interview with LiveScience
The Quest for Immortality - 60 Minutes interview on television with Aubrey de Grey (January 1st, 2006)

(in French):

" Ideas of simple and important actions to promote biological immortality ".

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