His goal is to delay the process of ageing. In this way, the geneticist Steve Horvath has developed a Test that reveals the biological age of a human being. The method to but can also calculate its remaining life time, if someone wants to know.
The German-American researcher Steve Horvath is convinced that ageing can be stopped. He dreams of a “magic pill” that slows down the aging process. For this, he must know what is in our cells and in the genome – and discovered the epigenetic clock. It determines how quickly or slowly someone is aging – and thus, how long the life (without incident) will take.
Read the biological expiration date from a drop of saliva, blood or urine. The liquids provide the DNA Material, the Horvath, for the determination of the “remaining term” needs of every human being. A corresponding Test of the Biogenetiker has developed at the Univesity of California, Los Angeles.
Changes on the genes indicate the remaining life span
Steve Horvath found out that it comes in the genome to typical changes, when the body ages. The chemical modifications, methylation, form a pattern, the changes in the course of life in a certain way.
The Position and number of changes, allow conclusions to be drawn on a Person’s age and how many years of life ahead of her – if no serious illness or any other profound change in between. We are biologically as old as the epigenetic pattern of our DNA says.
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Meaningful age determination works
During the calculation of life expectancy is more of a Gimmick, Horvath’s clock, a concrete possibility to use in the calculation of the actual age. In the case of young people with the accuracy of plus/minus two years. With age inaccurate is it: a 60-Year-old, it could be plus/minus ten years. This is because people age at different rates.
Even individual organs varies rapidly in the years to come. Particularly quickly, for example, the breast tissue of women, or the liver in Obese ages. All of this has been found Horvath at Gen-analysis of 5000 people.
In connection with the refugee crisis, German authorities have turned to the researchers in California: Many of the young men had spent the better of the chances, because as minors. The true age has also played in several criminal proceedings, an important role.
Because Horvath’s Test could provide a more accurate age determination than the usual x-rays, were interested in the authorities. The 900 Euro per Test in the case of a commercial US providers have so far, but not a viable option.
Even the Test-the inventor does not want to know life time.
Only in the district of Hildesheim, the clock has already been used successfully to determine the age of a young refugee without papers. You could prove that he was not a minor, but the mid-to-late 20’s had to be.
The forecast of the clock is not accurate enough to calculate the time of death precisely. But Steve Horvath is constantly working on more calculation accuracy for life expectancy. The youthful-looking 52-Year-old does not want to know the way, as his life clock is ticking.
