How Reprogramming Our Genes Can Extend Our Lives with George Church

This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health, Cozy Earth, and InsideTracker. All living things are programmed with a certain lifespan, which can be dramatically different from species to species. Humans now, in general, live twice as long as our ancestors, thanks to environmental changes and advances in medicine. But most of us spend the last years of our lives without the quality of life we really want. We’ve come to identify a slew of symptoms and chronic diseases as a natural part of aging, but do they really have to be? Today I’m excited to talk to Dr. George Church all about the latest science on reprogramming our genes to extend our healthspan and lifespan. Dr. George Church is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, a founding member of the Wyss Institute, and director of PersonalGenomes.org, the world’s only open-access information on human genomic, environmental, and trait data. Dr. Church is known for pioneering the fields of personal genomics and synthetic biology. He developed the first methods for the first genome sequence and his team invented CRISPR for human stem cell genome editing and other synthetic biology technologies and applications—including new ways to create organs for transplantation, gene therapies for aging reversal, and gene drives to eliminate Lyme disease and malaria. Dr. Church is the director of IARPA & NIH BRAIN Projects and the National Institutes of Health Center for Excellence in Genomic Science. He is the author of Regenesis. This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health, Cozy Earth, and InsideTracker. Rupa Health is a place where Functional Medicine practitioners can access more than 2,000 specialty lab tests. You can check out a free, live demo with a Q&A or create an account at RupaHealth.com. Right now, get 40% off your Cozy Earth sheets. Just head over to cozyearth.com and use code MARK40. InsideTracker is a personalized health and wellness platform like no other. Right now they’re offering my community 20% off at insidetracker.com/drhyman. Here are more details from our interview (audio version / Apple Subscriber version): The top things that prevent disease and enhance longevity (7:06 / 4:13) Defining aging as a disease and treating it as such (8:24 / 5:40) Reprogramming and repairing cells to a younger state (12:24 / 9:35) The future, and challenges, of delivering Yamanaka factors for cell reprogramming (15:05 / 11:50) Gene editing vs gene therapy (28:02 / 22:36) Using gene therapy to reverse disease and lengthen life span (34:44 / 30:55) Animal-to-human organ transplants (37:34 / 33:04) Can we live youthfully to 100 years old and beyond? (44:31 / 40:34) How much and what types of protein do we need for healthy aging? (50:30 / 45:50) Using gene editing to bring back mammoths to restore damaged ecosystems (1:00:53 / 56:50) Get a copy of George Church and Ed Regis’ book, Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves, here.