Calico Picks Up Steam: Cynthia Kenyon Joins Google ‘Anti-Death’ Project

Cynthia Kenyon, discussing her work on genetics and aging at UCSF in 2005, will join Calico, Google’s biotech company. (Credit: Mike Kepka, SFC)

This week, it was announced that high profile UCSF geneticist Cynthia Kenyan will be joining the new Google start-up “Calico.” Kenyan is renowned in the genetic research community for exploring anti-aging technology, and her addition to the Google team is telling of the company’s goals. Indeed, Calico’s initial press release was rather vague and only addressed Google founder Larry Page’s desire to combat disease and aging.

Credit: sporttechie.com

Calico is a fairly new company, having been introduced by Page this past September. “[It’s a] company that will focus on health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases,” he explained to the press, adding that the company’s Chief Executive Officer would be Art Levinson, Chairman and former CEO of Genentech and Chairman of Apple. Aside from that information, the company’s specific intentions remained unknown – but now that they’ve started recruiting high-profile geneticists like Kenyan, it’s clear they’re aiming to challenge the speed of the aging process – and perhaps death itself.

For decades, Cynthia Kenyon and her team at UCSF have focused on a small roundworm, C. elegans. After modifying the daf-2 genes of the worms, Kenyon discovered she could extend, even double, its lifespan. The worms weren’t just surviving, either: they performed with the energy of worms half their age. “Seeing them is like being with someone that looks 40 and learning that they are really 80,” said the UCSF team.

These issues [surrounding death and dying] affect us all,” says Page, “from the decreased mobility and mental agility that comes with age, to life-threatening diseases that exact a terrible physical and emotional toll on individuals and families…Art and I are excited about tackling aging and illness.”

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• Visit UCSF’s Kenyon Lab site.