In the future the ageing process could be reversed to such an extent that we’ll be alive to meet our own great-great-great-grandchildren, according to renowned geneticist Professor David Sinclair.

Speaking at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Medicine’s 2014 Dean’s Lecture yesterday, Sinclair said that one day “six generations will sit around the dining table, reminiscing about the good old days”.

He also said that drugs to slow, or even reverse, the ageing process were currently in development, but did not go as far as setting a date on when these would be available to the public.

Sinclair, who is a leading researcher in the field based at Harvard Medical School, was detailing his current research on reversing the ageing process, which is showing significant promise.

The primary focus of his current research is in epigenes, the switches responsible for turning genes on and off.

Sinclair likened the system to cookery, with our genes being “a recipe book” and the epigenes being the chef.

When we are young the chef is a Michelin starred pro, but as we age he becomes more like the Swedish chef from The Muppets – haphazard and incompetent.

He has been working on altering these epigenes, with a particular focus on SRT1, the epigene linked to the ageing of cells, with the aim of rearranging the cells “in a more youthful configuration”.

In published research on mice, Sinclair has been able to manipulate this gene to trigger early cellular deterioration, and says he has also used the technique to reverse the ageing process in a mouse – research that is set to be published soon.

While it may sound like science fiction, research to prevent or reverse ageing is fast becoming a hot area within biological sciences.

Noted gerontologist Aubrey de Grey is leading a multi-pronged research effort at the SENS Research Foundation to end ageing, which he says could lead to humans living past 200.

Also speaking at UNSW’s Dean’s Lecture was Professor Stephen Simpson, University of Sydney Charles Perkin Centre academic director, who is researching macronutrition’s effect on ageing.

He argued that “ageing is malleable” and is performing research on mice that suggests diet is different depending on the goal, whether it be to have children, look more attractive or live longer.

“What would you rather?” he asked. “Lose weight? Live longer and stay healthier? Look younger? Or have healthy children?

“The choice is yours and diet can help achieve each of these. But they’re not the same diet. And not the same diet throughout the life course.

“That’s the trick. That’s what we now need to understand.”

Featured image courtesy of Hartwig HKD.