Demystifying Aging
Since the 1500s, legends of the Spanish explorer Ponce de León have fueled the notion of a search for the “fountain of youth.” While a “magical spring” that would reverse the effects of aging has remained elusive, the science of longevity research has made significant progress. Using advanced technology and modern scientific methods, research teams have made significant breakthroughs in understanding aging and improving our healthspan.
At Goodier, our R&D/Innovations team is working with longevity researchers to stay at the forefront of this field of science. Skin (the integumentary system) is the largest organ in the human body, accounting for 10-15% of total body weight. Due to the stressors imposed on it, the skin undergoes constant changes and has a high capacity for repair and regeneration. Other important roles of the skin include thermoregulation, fluid and electrolyte balancing, toxin excretion, wound healing, and systemic immunomodulatory and neuromodulatory functions. (Russell-Goldman, 2020). The bottom line is that improving how we manage and care for our skin is why we come to work every day at Goodier.
Skin is made up of the epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue. Compromised functioning of any one of these layers can accelerate the aging process, but the dermis plays the most central role in skin aging (Strnadova, 2019), with the epidermis serving as an observable visual marker of the aging process (Longevity Technology). Skin aging may be categorized as intrinsic or extrinsic, depending on the epidemiological factors affecting the skin aging process, whereby intrinsic aging is attributed to chronological and genetic factors, while extrinsic aging is influenced by environmental factors (Guinot C, et al., 2002).
One of the most exciting aging breakthroughs has been recently made by Dr. David Sinclair and his colleagues at the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School. After 13 years, in January 2023, the Sinclair team announced the discovery of an aging clock that can speed up or reverse the aging of cells. Focusing on the epigenome, his team reported that not only can they age mice on an accelerated timeline, but they can also reverse the effects of that aging and restore some of the biological signs of youthfulness to the animals (Time Magazine, Jan. 2023). In what he calls the Information Theory of Aging, Sinclair has long proposed that aging results from losing critical instructions that cells need to continue functioning.
“Underlying aging is information that is lost in cells, not just the accumulation of damage,” says Dr Sinclair. “That’s a paradigm shift in how to think about aging.“
We still have a large challenge up ahead in translating this research into safe and effective therapies for humans, but the future is very exciting. While we wait for this type of game-changing research to commercialize, Goodier is hard at work incrementally advancing the formulation of new performance skincare products that make a difference today. We are actively seeking collaborators in the longevity research space, so please contact Goodier to see how we can help you on this journey.