An Interview With Dr. Joao Pedro de Magalhaes
Interview with Dr. Joao de Magalhaes, biogerontologist on LEAF.
We have an interview today with Dr. Joao de Magalhaes. He is the biogerontologist behind senescence.info. If you’re unfamiliar with his name, you can read our interview from last year.
What do you think about aging? Are we programmed to wear out or die, or a combination of both?
I don’t believe we wear out. Cells and molecules in humans and other complex animals have a high turnover rate. We can replace the majority of these components. Please see here. However, I believe that DNA damage and other forms of cumulative damage can contribute to aging. Also, I believe that there are some programmatic elements to aging. It is my belief that some genetic programs that coordinate certain aspects of growth and developmental persist into adulthood, and then become harmful as antagonistic pleiotropy. Aging is likely caused by a combination between molecular damage, and inadvertent genetic program actions.
Source:
https://www.leafscience.org/an-interview-with-dr-joao-pedro-de-magalhaes/
