Interviewee: Mario Capecchi. Mario Capecchi talks about the possibility of introducing an artificial chromosome into cells to slow the aging process. (DNAi Location: Applications > Genes and Medicine > Gene targeting > Possibilities > An artificial chromosome?)

So the thought is, if you can make an artificial chromosome in which many genes have been changed, and then you could actually change many components at the same time, and an example was many of the things that limit our age, how long we live is because we accumulate now many, many mutations in different cells and pretty soon, and we make cell products that are deleterious to the cell, and pretty soon the system simply runs down. And the question is, could we introduce now either corrected genes for those that are being wiped out, and in particular in the engines of the cell, that is the mitochondrial gene which is a fairly limited number of genes, could you replace the ones that are being, dying out in the mitochondria with new copies and thereby make now good mitochondria, therefore our cells are healthy with respect to energy.

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