From Lab to Life: Reversing Aging

Can scientists really turn back the block for us seniors, and reverse aging? K.R. Callaway reports on new research in this area, in the New York Times, July 24 (“Can this new enzyme turn back the clock in the human body?”).

“Over time,” she reports, “your tissues, baking steadily at 98.6 degrees, slowly accumulate compounds called advanced glycation end products, or AGEs, as sugars interact with protein and fat in the bloodstream. The buildup of AGEs is a hallmark of the aging process, making tissues like collagen sticky and rigid and causing inflation….”

I’m keenly aware of “sticky and rigid” in my own body (chi cong helps), and in the body of our 15-year-old mixed-breed Yorkie, who is very stiff and somewhat sore in the early morning, before her walk.

Can anything be done to reverse this natural process? ** Aaron Cravens, a founder and CEO of Revel Pharmaceuticals, which developed a new enzyme, and lead author of a key study **,  states: “It’s the first time, I think, that anyone in the field has shown at the structural level that you can actually reverse some of these (aging) changes.”

** Trabosh, N., Smith, J., Hsu, M. Y. H., Panja, S., Nagaraj, R., Olsson, N., … & Cravens, A. (2026). Reversal of protein chemical aging by enzymatic deglycation. Nature Communications, 17(1), 5926.

But how?

“Scientists created an enzyme that cleans one of the most common AGEs from human tissue, helping to turn back the clock even after the aging compounds have settled in the body. This cleanse can help repair the tissue and has the potential to allow cells to act younger,” the New York Times reports.

How did the research team create their breakthrough? “The team used artificial intelligence hardware to analyze the DNA sequences of more than 50,000 microbes and to compute the enzyme structures that each genetic code would create. They then narrowed the results to several candidates that seemed capable of cleaving AGEs from human tissue.”

Raising life expectancy among the elderly is praiseworthy. Now, the challenge is –  make those added years full of meaning, satisfaction, and love. Without that, added years don’t mean much.