Wishing you good health and low anxiety while sticking to plan here at The Big Middle, despite the dystopian reality of now. I’m sharing another of my interviews with longevity superstars done for The Longevity Forum at their flagship event here in London a few months ago.

For now, I’m keeping this a virus-free zone. There is more than enough essential daily listening and learning to do from official and trusted media sources. And so many qualified professionals are offering excellent psychological and emotional support and coping strategies as we brace for what’s next.

This time, it’s my interview with longevity legend Dr Nir Barzilai, Director of the Institute for Aging Research at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discoverer of the first ‘longevity gene’ in humans. He’s poised to begin – as soon as $75m worth of pledges materialises – a five-year clinical trial exploring the rejuvenation properties of metformin, the generic Type 2 diabetes drug.

We talk about his work to realise the promise of targeting ageing with metformin and other next-generation drugs- arresting it, reversing it, instead of treating the many specific diseases related to it. Dr Barzilai says we’re not far off from seeing applications to “erase the scratches of ageing”, unlocking a healthspan dividend that will drive down treatment costs to the benefit of all.

Next up, my Longevity Forum interview with Dr Linda Fried, Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. She says designing our new life stage, the extra years we‘re getting in what I call The Big Middle – is the design opportunity of this century. This global pandemic certainly adds an unexpected design element into the mix.

Links

• Nir’s profile Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Nir’s Institute for Aging Research
• Is metformin the key to living longer? – Oliver Franklin-Wallis writing in The Times Magazine Dec 2019
• The detailed science of metformin as a tool to target aging – Nir and others in Cell Metabolism 2016
• Great feature about Nir’s background and work – ‘The Man Who Wants to Beat Back Aging’ Science magazine 2015
• The Longevity Forum 2019 agenda

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• Music: “Beautiful Day” by Sahin Koc