8-Year-Old Never Ages, Could Reveal 'Biological Immortality'

[Steve Williams]

Anyone ever see the movie Benjamin Button with Brad Pitt....

By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES | Good Morning America

Gabby Williams has the facial features and skin of a newborn, and she is just as dependent. Her mother feeds, diapers and cradles her tiny frame as she did the day she was born.
The little girl from Billings, Mont., is 8 years old, but weighs only 11 pounds. Gabby has a mysterious condition, shared by only a handful of others in the world, that slows her rate of aging.
For the past two years, a doctor who has been trying to find the genetic off-switch to stop the aging process has been studying Gabby, as well as two other people who have striking similarities.........

http://gma.yahoo.com/8-old-11-pounds-never-ages-040317717--abc-news-health.html

 

[GaryProtein]

The case of the "supertelomers"

 

[MylesBAstor]

So I have a question Steve Why do these researchers think this example will reveal the fountain of youth any more than a disease such as progeria?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progeria

 

[Steve Williams]

Because progeria is the opposite of the fountain of youth.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Actually it's accelerated aging It's not unlike cancer: there are genes for cell growth and cell death. If one can figure out what causes the aging, shouldn't that be a master key to the system?

 

[Mosin]

Actually it's accelerated aging It's not unlike cancer: there are genes for cell growth and cell death. If one can figure out what causes the aging, shouldn't that be a master key to the system?

If they can figure out why my mind is still nineteen, but my body is sixty-two, that should go a long way toward finding the key!

 

[MylesBAstor]

If they can figure out why my mind is still nineteen, but my body is sixty-two, that should go a long way toward finding the key!

You and me both

 

[Steve Williams]

Actually it's accelerated aging It's not unlike cancer: there are genes for cell growth and cell death. If one can figure out what causes the aging, shouldn't that be a master key to the system?

I know exactly what progeria is Myles. I treated a kid with progeria way back as an intern doing a Pediatric rotation

 

[MylesBAstor]

I know exactly what progeria is Myles. I treated a kid with progeria way back as an intern doing a Pediatric rotation

Steve that's interesting and rare to have seen but that wasn't the question? I expected that being a doctor you would know; however it's still not clear what additional info is to be gained or is this simply an advertorial to get a research grant? Or is it a look at positive and negative feedback control on aging?

 

[Steve Williams]

sorry Myles, I misunderstood your point