Fossel, a clinical professor of medicine at Michigan State University, is convinced that sometime during this next millennium, biomedical research will make such incredible advances that people's lifespans could reach as high as 200 years.

Fossel, the editor of the Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine and author of Reversing Human Aging, says maladies such as cancer and heart disease will be conquered in the not-too-distant future.

"Doctors have known for years that as we age, our genes down-regulate, weaken and turn off our defense mechanisms, leaving us more vulnerable to disease," he says. "However, until now, doctors have known little about what the clock was and how it is directly responsible for the aging process."

The key, he says, lies in a tiny bit of molecular material called a telomere. Located at the tip of every chromosome, the telomere is our biological clock, the timekeeper that ticks inside each human cell, telling it when to get old.

As we age, most telemores shrink and eventually die, killing the cell. Learning to lengthen the telemores, essentially re-setting our biological clock, will have an impact on heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, and other illnesses.

Cancer, however, is a different beast. Because cancer cells tend to proliferate out of control, the key there is shortening the telemores.

Research in both areas is continuing. Fossel says he's optimistic that life-saving advances will be made before the end of the first decade of the 21st century.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

• Healthy Aging
• Diseases and Conditions
• Chronic Illness

• Senescence
• Telomere
• Nanomedicine
• Stem cell treatments
• Huntington's disease
• Vector (biology)