Many people hope to reverse the process of ageing in a bid to remain healthier and live longer or ultimately to live forever. And now researchers have made a breakthrough. As the body ages, it loses its ability to control how genes are regulated and they ultimately become more damaged until we ultimately die. A gene is activated by signals from inside or outside the cell to make a molecular message known as RNA.

The decision on which type of ‘message’ is created by a group of around 300 proteins is known as “splicing factors”. However, as we get older the amount of splicing factors the proteins are able to make steadily decreases. Older cells are then ultimately less able to turn genes on and off to react to the environment which makes us more vulnerable to diseases which ultimately kill us off. However, researchers have found a way to turn splicing factors back on.

SCIENCE BREAKTHROUGH: Ageing process REVERSED in human cells for first time