Altai scientists claim progress towards eternal youth... in worms

Work by the Scientific Research Institute of Biological Medicine at Altai State University has been hailed as progress towards a 'fountain of youth'. Impressive results in earthworms and mice have been noted, it is claimed. 

Yet lead researcher Ivan Smornov is against implying this can see rapid benefits for humans. 'I don't know anything about an elixir of life,' he said. 'We're not working on such a thing, and we didn't invent any 'elixir of life'.'

Rather 'we're working on medical treatment that will allow the postponement of 'age' illnesses - but in worms. 'We haven't yet considered using it on humans.' He said: 'Many doctors believe that ageing is a disease and can therefore be cured.'

Dr Smirnov said: 'We've been working on several rejuvenating medicines during the last few years, along with our colleagues from the Tomsk Research Institute of Pharmacology and Regenerative Medicine. 

'The substances we work on includes a treatment for post-chemotherapy bone marrow regeneration, a hepatoprotector for the human liver, and medication for women's health. This is 21st century medical science.' 

The drug is produced from stem cells and stimulates the body to produce new cells. It can positively affect entire body as well as separate organs. It is believed it could  help heal the heart after a heart attack. The drug proved to be effective to make a segment of liver grow in laboratory environment.

Researcher Ruslan Khalimov said: 'A fragment of liver that we placed is growing under the influence of the drug. On the left photo the cells take all the free space, respectively, the substance has significant potential to heal liver.'

On the worms, Dr Smirnov said: 'We use particular worms. They normally live for about 20 days. Luckily, they lived much longer. More importantly, they managed to preserve their youth and had a lot of offspring.

'That proves that the animals were at a reproductive age. The tests on vertebrates will take another two years.'