This geneticist’s age-reversal tech could help restore sight
Geneticist Yuancheng Lu is researching age-reversal gene therapies, specifically focusing on restoring vision in cases of age-related blindness. His work, which successfully repaired optic nerves in mice, has now moved into human clinical trials.
Why it matters
Breakthroughs in rejuvenation science could lead to transformative treatments for age-related diseases, significantly improving quality of life for the elderly.
Biotechnology and health This geneticist’s age-reversal tech could help restore sight Yuancheng (Ryan) Lu is behind one of the buzziest results in rejuvenation science.
Yuancheng (Ryan) Lu is obsessed with aging. And with eyes. As he steps outside the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, his aviator glasses darken automatically in the sun. Age-related blindness runs in his family. A great-aunt in China, the story goes, was killed crossing a road because she couldn’t see oncoming traffic. And Lu’s own 23andMe test came back with a mutation for macular degeneration, a top cause of vision loss in old age. Exposure to bright sunlight is another risk factor—thus the shades. “They protect me,” he says. “Plus, they look cool.”
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