Three Volumes of Frontiers of Longevity Science Examine Repair of the Aging Body and Longevity Policy

Three Volumes of Frontiers of Longevity Science Examine Repair of the Aging Body and Longevity Policy

On August 5, David Barzilai, one of the four editors, announced the publication of the series by Springer Nature. According to Barzilai, the three volumes span more than 1600 pages and include contributions from more than 100 authors. He edited the series with Max Rangley, Regina Monaco, and David Wood.

“More than 100 contributors. Three volumes. More than 1600 pages,” Barzilai wrote.

In his announcement, Barzilai places Aubrey de Grey’s chapter on repairing age-related damage alongside Yuri Deigin’s discussion of programmed aging. Different explanations of aging lead to different interventions. One approach identifies accumulated damage and seeks ways to repair it. The other proposes changing the signals that regulate how the body functions.

The same announcement lists genetic medicine, partial cellular reprogramming, and organ replacement. Rob Shekoyan, who wrote the chapter on genetic medicine, discusses gene editing, RNA suppression, epigenome modification, which alters the chemical marks that affect gene activity, and engineered cell therapies. Repairing damage, changing regulation, adding biological functions, and replacing tissues address different problems.

The third volume extends beyond laboratory methods. Barzilai lists chapters on investment in longevity biotechnology, longevity cities, funding for basic aging biology in the United States, and advocacy for the first regulated gerotherapy, meaning treatments that target the mechanisms of aging. In this table of contents, questions of funding, clinical development, and regulation appear alongside biological hypotheses.

The series therefore connects the choice of an explanation for aging with the choice of a therapy and with the ways that therapy will be funded, tested, and regulated.