{"id":67709,"date":"2022-06-06T09:50:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T13:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=67709"},"modified":"2022-06-16T11:28:02","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T15:28:02","slug":"yamanaka-genes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/yamanaka-genes\/","title":{"rendered":"Yamanaka Genes: Finally, a Cure for Aging?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What are Yamanaka genes? How can these genes reverse aging? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yamanaka genes are a group of genes that encode transcription factors that have been shown to convert mature cells into stem cells. These factors hold promise in our quest to reverse aging\u2014stem cells can grow into any type of cell (e.g. neurons, heart cells, liver cells) and could be used to replace the age-related cell damage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s how Yamanaka genes can one day help reverse your biological clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-turning-back-the-clock-with-yamanaka-factors\"><strong>Turning Back the Clock With Yamanaka Factors<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Biologist David Sinclair believes that <strong>the true <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/curing-aging\/\">cure for aging<\/a> may be a set of four genes, called Yamanaka factors, that reverse aging in cells<\/strong>\u2014not just the <em>effects <\/em>of aging, but aging itself. Shinya Yamanaka, the stem cell researcher who discovered these genes\u2019 potential, showed that they could cause adult cells in a petri dish to revert to immature stem cells. Those stem cells could then re-mature into young, healthy cells of any type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sinclair believes that <strong>it will someday be possible to use Yamanaka genes, along with other treatments, to completely undo epigenetic damage and even revert senescent cells into healthy ones<\/strong>, thereby resetting people\u2019s biological clocks. He even says it might become possible within our lifetimes, though he admits that\u2019s an optimistic prediction.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The author acknowledges that this sort of genetic de-aging therapy is a work in progress: He suspects that it\u2019ll take at least another decade to develop methods that are both safe and effective for humans. However, Sinclair\u2019s own laboratory has made great strides already, and he truly believes that this procedure (or one like it) will someday keep us young and healthy indefinitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Chemist and biologist Joanna Wysocka showed that a particular group of embryonic cells\u2014called the neural crest\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/med.stanford.edu\/stemcell\/news\/iscbrmarticles\/yamanaka-in-neural-crest.html\">naturally use Yamanaka factors<\/a> to turn back into stem cells. These cells of the neural crest, which were at one point locked into becoming skin, were then able to turn into bone or muscle tissue instead. This suggests that, not only are the Yamanaka factors <em>theoretically <\/em>effective on living humans, but are in fact already a part of our development.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are Yamanaka genes? How can these genes reverse aging? Yamanaka genes are a group of genes that encode transcription factors that have been shown to convert mature cells into stem cells. These factors hold promise in our quest to reverse aging\u2014stem cells can grow into any type of cell (e.g. neurons, heart cells, liver cells) and could be used to replace the age-related cell damage. Here&#8217;s how Yamanaka genes can one day help reverse your biological clock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":23931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,160],"tags":[632],"class_list":["post-67709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-science","tag-lifespan","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Yamanaka Genes: Finally, a Cure for Aging? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yamanaka genes encode transcription factors that can convert mature cells into stem cells. Here&#039;s how Yamanaka factors help reverse aging.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/yamanaka-genes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yamanaka Genes: Finally, a Cure for Aging?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yamanaka genes encode transcription factors that can convert mature cells into stem cells. Here&#039;s how Yamanaka factors help reverse aging.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/yamanaka-genes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-06T13:50:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-16T15:28:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cell-dna-science-lab.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"845\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"531\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/yamanaka-genes\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/yamanaka-genes\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"Yamanaka Genes: Finally, a Cure for Aging?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-06T13:50:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-16T15:28:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/yamanaka-genes\/\"},\"wordCount\":368,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/yamanaka-genes\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cell-dna-science-lab.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lifespan\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Health\",\"Science\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/yamanaka-genes\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/yamanaka-genes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/yamanaka-genes\/\",\"name\":\"Yamanaka Genes: Finally, a Cure for Aging? - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/yamanaka-genes\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/yamanaka-genes\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cell-dna-science-lab.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-06T13:50:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-16T15:28:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"Yamanaka genes encode transcription factors that can convert mature cells into stem cells. 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