Highlights

  • Dr. Nag has entered a competition called Xprize that will award him $101 million if he can develop a way to extend older adults’ lifespans by 10 to 20 years.
  • For Dr. Nag’s Xprize entry, he plans to develop a vaccine against aging using preexisting FDA-approved drugs that will be chosen based on AI computer simulations.

Stanford genetics professor and part-owner of nearly 100 biotech companies Dr. Ronjon Nag has undertaken a gargantuan challenge: developing a vaccine for aging within seven years. This endeavor is part of his entry for a $101 million prize paid to any group that can generate a means to extend aged adults’ lifespan by 10 to 20 years. The methods used to extend lifespan can be via a compound, a cocktail of compounds, an exercise regimen, or a diet plan.

Presented at Longevity SF’s 3rd annual Longevity Summit, Dr. Nag details how he has started a project called Agemica that will use a cocktail of drugs that are already FDA-approved for his proposed vaccine. Moreover, he will select the drugs based on their efficacy at improving parameters of longevity such as immunity and muscle function in AI computer simulations. The AI technology Dr. Nag uses will simulate what happens physiologically in human cells when previously FDA-approved drugs are applied, which will substitute for experiments that use animals like mice and speed up the search. Because of the accelerated process, participants will be able to start using the vaccine only one year after it has been identified. After taking the vaccine, Dr. Nag aims to find whether they show improvements in immunity, cognition, and muscle function that can predict longevity.

“If you can actually cure aging … you solve many diseases all at once,” says Dr. Nag.

(Dr. Ronjon Nag | YouTube) Dr. Nag aims to win a $101 million prize by developing a vaccine against aging within seven years. For the prize, the vaccine must target a 10-to-20-year lifespan extension in adults aged 65 to 80 who do not have a disability or life-threatening disease. For clinical testing, the vaccine must be ready in a year or less and improve three domains predictive of longevity — cognition, immunity, and muscle function.

The Vaccine Will Aim to Eliminate Senescent Cells, Enhance Mitochondria, and Youthfully Reprogram Cells

Dr. Nag plans to use AI computer technology trained to simulate cellular conditions related to age, health status, and age-related diseases. By running a library of some 1,500 drugs already approved by the FDA through the AI computer simulations, he will get a better handle on which have the highest probability of success against aging.

The cocktail for his vaccine, consisting of multiple drugs, will target dysfunctional cells that have been linked to aging called senescent cells. Pharmaceuticals within the cocktail will contain compounds that selectively eliminate senescent cells called senolytics. Getting rid of senescent cells with senolytics can have off-target effects by killing healthy cells that have not entered senescence. To confront this issue, Dr. Nag says that a gene showing activation in senescent cells has been identified called GPNMB. Along those lines, the senolytics his vaccine uses will target cells with the elevated GPNMB gene activation signature.

Another factor that Dr. Nag bets on being crucial during aging is the declining function of the cell’s powerhouse — the mitochondria. As such, Dr. Nag wants his cocktail vaccine to rejuvenate mitochondria.

The vaccine will also incorporate potential tissue and organ enhancement with a technique called partial cellular reprogramming, where four genes called Yamanaka factors are activated in cells. In cells contained in laboratory dishes, cellular reprogramming has been shown to restore a more youthful state as measured with chemical modifications to DNA — epigenetic age. By harnessing this ambitious longevity technique along with senescent cell clearance and mitochondrial enhancement, Dr. Nag hopes to extend longevity.

The combination of pharmaceuticals within the proposed aging vaccine could have effects on humans similar to refurbishing a laptop. In that sense, upgrading human energy-generating mitochondria would be similar to replacing a laptop’s battery. Moreover, clearing senescent cells with senolytics would be similar to cleaning a laptop’s dust and dirt. Furthermore, through partial cellular reprogramming for human cell rejuvenation, the cocktail will serve a similar function as re-installing a laptop’s OS hard drive.

(Dr. Ronjon Nag | YouTube) Dr. Nag’s cocktail vaccine against aging will target mitochondrial upgrading, senescent cell cleaning, and cellular reprogramming. In the metaphorical sense of refurbishing a laptop, Dr. Nag’s vaccine will refurbish humans. Replacing a laptop battery will be similar to human mitochondrial upgrading, cleaning laptop dust and dirt resembling senescent cell elimination, and re-installing a laptop OS hard drive reminiscent of cellular reprogramming (Reprogram epigenetics).

Improving Common Underlying Causes of Multiple Diseases to Extend Longevity

Dr. Nag’s project aiming to develop a vaccine for aging within the next seven years takes a different approach for extending longevity compared to traditional medicine. Instead of treating each disease as a separate process, he wants to confront multiple age-related diseases like dementia and diabetes at once by targeting common underlying cellular processes. He has identified senescent cell elimination, mitochondrial enhancement, and cellular reprogramming as ways to address such common underlying age-related disease cellular processes.

(Dr. Ronjon Nag | YouTube) Delaying aging targets a more effective extension of human lifespan compared to curing one fatal disease. Curing a fatal disease (A) modestly extends human lifespan, but curing a series of diseases to delay aging (B) has a more significant effect on lifespan extension.

Interestingly, when asked what specific FDA-approved drugs he has identified to improve immune, cognitive, and muscular aspects of aging, Dr. Nag has remained mum. This comes as no surprise since he is, in fact, competing against other groups for a $101 million prize for his proposed vaccine against aging.