World News: Bezos invests in lab working to prolong human life – Gulf Digital News

The eccentric billionaire who founded Amazon in 1994, is understood to be among a group of high-profile investors funding a rejuvenation startup in Northern California. The company Altos Labs was founded earlier this year by Russian billionaire Yuri Millner and is experimenting with so-called biological reprogramming technology.

The tech, should it prove effective, could potentially extend the human lifespan by an impressive 50 years.

Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon earlier this summer and has instead focused his attention on other ventures, including the spaceflight company Blue Origin.

He made headlines in late July when he flew to the edge of space aboard his New Shepard rocket just days after Sir Richard Branson became the worlds first billionaire astronaut.

Some of his attention now appears to have been diverted towards Altos Labs, where researchers say they will attempt to restore cells to a primitive stem cell state, allowing them to heal and regenerate.

Manuel Serrano, a researcher with the company, told Technology Review: The philosophy of Altos Labs is to do curiosity-driven research.

This is what I know how to do and love to do.

In this case, through a private company, we have the freedom to be bold and explore.

The aim is to understand rejuvenation. I would say the idea of having revenue in the future is there, but its not the immediate goal.

Dr Serrano has previously worked with stem cells by experimenting on genetically engineered mice.

As part of his research, Dr Serrano and his colleagues have reprogrammed adult mice cells to behave like embryonic stem cells.

The research, which was published in the journal Nature, could one day help scientists develop regenerative therapies without the need to grow stem cells in a petri dish.

Among the other scientists involved in the project, is Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte of the Gene Expression Laboratories at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California.

Earlier this year, Professor Belmonte and a team of researchers claimed to have created the worlds first human-monkey embryo.

The controversial study kept the hybrid embryos alive for up to 20 days in a laboratory.

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World News: Bezos invests in lab working to prolong human life - Gulf Digital News