The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) has embarked on a project to reprogram biological aging. This initiative aims to establish advanced aging indicators and maps, and to develop cell-level control technologies.
According to Kim Min-soo from News1, the MSIT, in collaboration with academic and research institutions, has started the development of core technologies to measure and reverse aging processes. The goal is to go beyond viewing aging as a natural life phenomenon and to approach it as a research subject that can be quantified and controlled at the cellular and tissue level.
On June 10, the MSIT announced that it held an inaugural meeting to kick off the “Biological Aging Reprogramming Core Technology Development Project.” This project is set to run over five years, from 2023 to 2030, with a total budget of 47.5 billion KRW, including 7.5 billion KRW for the current year.
Through this project, the MSIT aims to establish, for the first time globally, quantitative indicators of “advanced aging” and develop technologies to reverse aging at the cellular level. “Advanced aging” refers to a severe state of cell and tissue aging. The MSIT plans to create measurable criteria, similar to how severe obesity is quantified, and set up a system for objectively measuring aging states.
The project comprises three main areas: the development of aging measurement technologies, aging control technologies, and efficacy evaluation of anti-aging technologies.
The Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) will construct multidimensional aging maps for cells, tissues, and organs. This involves creating maps based on biological data to show how the human body ages over time, and establishing numerical models for advanced aging.
The development of aging control technologies involves institutions like KAIST, Kyungpook National University, and Seoul National University. KAIST will identify the causes of immune system aging and discover key regulatory substances that can rejuvenate and restore health. They will also develop candidate drugs to reverse liver stiffness seen as an aging process due to interactions between the liver and intestines.
Kyungpook National University will use animal models that age rapidly due to chronic inflammation to find recovery factors for the vascular and immune systems. Seoul National University will classify aging cells in detail, investigate how organelle abnormalities in these cells lead to lung aging and diseases, and work on developing customized treatments.
Korea University and the Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI) will handle the establishment of a platform for efficacy evaluation. Korea University will create systems using microchips and artificial mini-organs that mimic real organs, allowing observation of human aging processes in the lab. KBSI will unify aging criteria and assess the safety and effectiveness of anti-aging treatments using animals like mice and fruit flies.
The MSIT sees data sharing and collaboration among research institutions as key factors in the success of the project and plans to establish regular exchange systems.