Fight Aging!

2005 is coming to a close, and what a year it was for the Methuselah Foundation and the MPrize for anti-aging research! It has been wonderful to see so much progress in awareness and action for healthy life extension and in support of directed research into repairing age-related cellular damage. You can help us finish 2005 on a high note by choosing the Methuselah Foundation for your end of year charitable donations. When you donate to support the Longevity and Rejuvenation prizes or LysoSENS research, your dollars are swelling the most effective method for making the public and scientific community to sit up and take notice. Working therapies for age-related degeneration could be realized within our lifetime - but only if we help to make it happen!

A look back at some of the highlights from the Fight Aging! archives shows just how far the Methuselah Foundation has come in the past 12 months:

January 18 2005 - Funding for Methuselah Foundation volunteers:

Aubrey de Grey, Chairman of the Methuselah Foundation, announced that recent generous sponsorship donations would enable two people committed to the extension of healthy lifespans to dedicate all of their time and energy toward furthering the mission of the Methuselah Foundation.

March 08 2005 - Hitting the magic $1 million in pledges:

As you may have noticed, Aubrey de Grey and Dave Gobel's M Prize for anti-aging research has topped $1,000,000 in pledges. The first of many more millions, we all hope.

June 25 2005 - Passing the $1.3 million mark in pledges:

The number of endorsing organizations continues to grow and the news articles roll in. In short, things are moving forward; good progress is being made thanks to the many generous donors and volunteers who have stepped forward to date.

July 03 2005 - 50th member of The Three Hundred:

The first item of news, which happened to little fanfare so far, unfortunately, is that the Mprize recently celebrated its 50th member of The Three Hundred. In fact, as of now, there are 52 members of the 300, representing 1.3 million dollars in long-term commitments towards the prize.

July 17 2005 - A charity lunch with Ray Kurzweil is auctioned:

The dust has settled from the Methuselah Foundation charity auction for lunch with futurist and healthy life extension advocate Ray Kurzweil; congratulations to the lucky winner.

July 28 2005 - The $20,000 SENS Challenge is announced:

Regardless of which explanation is correct, biogerontologists apparently need an incentive to consider SENS. To that end, Technology Review is announcing a prize for any molecular biologist working in the field of aging who is willing to take up the challenge: submit an intellectually serious argument that SENS is so wrong that it is unworthy of learned debate, and you will be paid $20,000 if it convinces independent referees. In the case that even $20,000 is insufficient to motivate the relevant experts, we also invite contributions to the fund; anyone wishing to pledge should contact me.

September 27 2005 - The Muhlestein challenge grant met in a matter of days:

To the delight of all volunteers, donors and competitors involved in the Mprize competition, the Stan and Judy Muhlestein Trust $25,000 challenge has ALREADY BEEN MET. This stunning result is due especially to the generosity of David Gore, the newest member of The Three Hundred whose $25,000 donation swept the challenge. Thanks to all involved!

October 09 2005 - 66th member of The Three Hundred:

The sixty-sixth member of The Three Hundred signed up today, bringing the grand pledge total from these generous everyday philanthropists to $1.65 million - all in support of the realization of working anti-aging medicine, technologies capable of preventing and reversing the root causes of age-related degeneration.

October 17 2005 - Scott B. and Anne P. Appleby Charitable Trust donates:

It's always good to wake up to the news that my favored charitable cause has gained another respected donor organization. From Dave Gobel, news of another large lump sum for the Mprize for anti-aging research.

November 03 2005 - The $1,000,000 anonymous donation:

Let me be one of the first to thank the anonymous donor for his or her generosity and for greatly raising the level of vindication experienced by the Mprize volunteers and other donors. This is a big step forward for efforts to vitalize serious scientific progress towards a cure for aging. There is a long way to go yet - and more seven figure donations, I hope - but thank you, anonymous donor, for pushing the best present day effort into the major leagues.

November 04 2005 - Dr. Russ Heppel joins the advisory board:

Dr. Russ Hepple, one of the presenters at SENS2 who spoke about how caloric restriction helps preserve mitochondrial output in aged muscle has accepted the invitation to become an Advisor to the Mprize. Russ has been doing top work in the field of healthy life-extension and I am particularly pleased that his acceptance reinforces our mandate to be a global organization by the addition of a Canadian to our number.

November 15 2005 - Donations to LysoSENS Research accepted:

What is LysoSENS? This is the first Methuselah Foundation funded research program to deal directly with removing age-related damage - in the form of accumulated lysosomal junk - from within cells, based on Aubrey de Grey's Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS). Hence the name, LysoSENS.

December 02 2005 - LysoSENS funding passes $150,000

We are very pleased to announce that Three Hundred Member and long time Mprize supporter, Gary Hudson of HMX Inc., has donated fifty-thousand dollars to further the research of LysoSENS. LysoSENS is the novel approach of utilizing microbial enzymes to degrade otherwise indigestible junk that accumulates within cells with aging, eventually causing pathology. Thank you to Gary and all of our research supporters!

December 11 2005 - The Three Hundred Dinner, a Grand Success:

April Smith, calorie restriction enthusiast, Methuselah Foundation volunteer and healthy life extension advocate, reports on the foundation's December 8th Boston dinner for members of The Three Hundred - generous individuals who commit to giving $1000 each year to the MPrize in order to encourage and speed real anti-aging research - attended by Ray Kurzweil and Aubrey de Grey, and hosted by Jason Pontin of the Technology Review.

I left out the well-attended SENS 2 conference, a bevy of widely read mainstream media articles, and a number of other important events and efforts - but you get the idea. Success is good, and folks like you and I can help to make 2006 a banner year for healthy life extension ... so show the world that you support medical research for longer, healthier lives by making a donation to the MPrize.

Technorati tags: activism, life extension, MPrize