How Reprogramming Our Genes Can Extend Our Lives with George Church

This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health, Cozy Earth, and
InsideTracker. All living things are programmed with a certain
lifespan, which can be dramatically different from species to
species. Humans now, in general, live twice as long as our
ancestors, thanks to environmental changes and advances in
medicine. But most of us spend the last years of our lives without
the quality of life we really want. We’ve come to identify a slew
of symptoms and chronic diseases as a natural part of aging, but do
they really have to be? Today I’m excited to talk to Dr. George
Church all about the latest science on reprogramming our genes to
extend our healthspan and lifespan. Dr. George Church is a
professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, a founding member
of the Wyss Institute, and director of PersonalGenomes.org, the
world’s only open-access information on human genomic,
environmental, and trait data. Dr. Church is known for pioneering
the fields of personal genomics and synthetic biology. He developed
the first methods for the first genome sequence and his team
invented CRISPR for human stem cell genome editing and other
synthetic biology technologies and applications—including new ways
to create organs for transplantation, gene therapies for aging
reversal, and gene drives to eliminate Lyme disease and malaria.
Dr. Church is the director of IARPA & NIH BRAIN Projects and
the National Institutes of Health Center for Excellence in Genomic
Science.  He is the author of Regenesis. This episode is
brought to you by Rupa Health, Cozy Earth, and InsideTracker. Rupa
Health is a place where Functional Medicine practitioners can
access more than 2,000 specialty lab tests. You can check out a
free, live demo with a Q&A or create an account at
RupaHealth.com. Right now, get 40% off your Cozy Earth sheets. Just
head over to cozyearth.com and use code MARK40. InsideTracker is a
personalized health and wellness platform like no other. Right now
they’re offering my community 20% off at insidetracker.com/drhyman.
Here are more details from our interview (audio version / Apple
Subscriber version): The top things that prevent disease and
enhance longevity (7:06 / 4:13)  Defining aging as a disease
and treating it as such (8:24 /  5:40)  Reprogramming and
repairing cells to a younger state (12:24 / 9:35)  The future,
and challenges, of delivering Yamanaka factors for cell
reprogramming (15:05 / 11:50)  Gene editing vs gene therapy
(28:02 / 22:36)  Using gene therapy to reverse disease and
lengthen life span (34:44 / 30:55)  Animal-to-human organ
transplants (37:34 / 33:04)  Can we live youthfully to 100
years old and beyond? (44:31 / 40:34)  How much and what types
of protein do we need for healthy aging? (50:30 / 45:50) 
Using gene editing to bring back mammoths to restore damaged
ecosystems (1:00:53 / 56:50)  Get a copy of George Church and
Ed Regis’ book, Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent
Nature and Ourselves, here.