AsktheExpert:WhatdogeneshavetodowithageLOC?
ByMarkBartlett,Ph.D.
Thursday,March11,2010
We’veheardalotaboutaginglatelyinthemedia.Earlierthisyear,USNewsandWorldReportandTime
Magazinereportedonasurprisingnewinsightconnectinggenesandaging.Thesenewsorganizations
arenowreportingwhatNuSkinhasknownforsometime—thatourgenescanbepositivelyinfluenced
andwecanaffectthewayweage.Byleveraging30yearsofgenomicresearch,NuSkinhasplaceditself
infrontofthisscientifictrendandisaclearleaderintheindustry.
Thepathleadinguptoouranti-agingscienceisquiteinteresting.SinceJamesWatson,FrancisCrick,
andRosalindFranklindiscoveredthestructureofDNAin1953,thefieldofgeneticshasbeenadvancing
atanamazingrate.By2003,theentirehumangenomehadbeensequenced,ordecoded.Fromthis
advancement,wenowknowthathumanshavesomewherebetween20,000and30,000genes.About
onetenthofthosegenesareinvolvedintheregulationofexpressionoftherest.Ourworktodayisto
betterunderstandhowgeneexpressionchangeswithageandhowtoexternallyinfluenceit.
Thelatesttechnologiesaremakingthistaskmuchmorefeasible.Now,onasinglesiliconechipaboutan
inchsquare,wecanmeasuretheworkoutputofasinglegeneinanytissue.Bymeasuringthis“work
output,”wecantrackwhetherthecreatedproteinsarestructural(likethecollagenortheelastininyour
skin)orenzymes,whichcatalyzeallofthebiochemicalreactionsthattakeplaceinyourbody.Therefore,
wearenowcapableofmeasuringtheagingprocessatthegeneticlevel,anddetermininghowexternal
factorsaffectthisprocess.
Simplyput,wearenowinfluencingagingatthegeneticlevel.Thisisactuallyquitealiberatingconcept,
andit’snotjusthype.Itturnsoutthateventhoughwe’vebeenfocusingontheDNAasthehardwired
brain,orcomputerofthecell,wehaven’tbeenconsideringthesoftwareportionoftheequation.It’sthis
influencingofthe“software”thatsetsNuSkinapartwithouranti-agingscience.
Thisisanamazingbreakthrough,andNuSkinispositionedtotakeadvantageofthesedevelopmentsto
provideanewplatformofanti-agingproductstodayandwellintothefuture.
|
|
