IMA Head of Medical and Scientific Affairs Dr. Ryan Cole joined The National News Desk to break down a new experimental gene therapy entering human trials for age-related eye conditions like glaucoma. Built on Nobel Prize-winning research by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, the therapy uses a targeted injection that instructs cells to produce three proteins designed to restore youthful activity and function. It showed promising results in mice and primates before advancing to a five-year human trial.
The conversation expands into the broader biology of aging. Dr. Cole explains how senescent “zombie cells” accumulate over time, driving chronic inflammation without serving a purpose, and how natural compounds like quercetin and fisetin, found in apple peels, strawberries, and dark berries, are being explored to clear them. He also highlights the role of mitochondrial health and light therapy in restoring cellular energy.
Check out these related resources from IMA below, followed by the full segment transcript.
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Transcript
Jan Jeffcoat: The search for the fountain of youth may have taken a major step forward. A new experimental gene therapy is giving researchers hope they may one day be able to slow or even reverse the effects of aging. Joining us now is Dr. Ryan Cole, Head of Medical and Scientific Affairs at the Independent Medical Alliance and Senior Fellow in Pathology. Good morning to you, sir. Great to see you as always.
Dr. Ryan Cole: Good morning, Jan.
Jan Jeffcoat: What is this new gene therapy? How’s it designed, and how big of a breakthrough could this be if it lives up to its promise?
Dr. Ryan Cole: This is an experimental therapy. It’s based on the work of Dr. Yamanaka, who is a Nobel Prize winner back in 2012. He won the Nobel Prize in Medicine, and it’s an injection into the eye. It’s being explored right now for age-related conditions like glaucoma as well as ischemic stroke of the eye. It’s based on giving instructions to the cells to make three proteins — not just to protect them, but to bring back their youthful activity and their youthful form. The trial will take five years, so it’s going to be a while till we get the results, but it showed promising results in mice and primates, and hence it’s been allowed to move on to human trials.
Jan Jeffcoat: And when folks hear the phrase “reverse aging,” it always sounds too good to be true. So what do scientists actually mean by that? How much of this is real science versus future possibility?
Dr. Ryan Cole: That’s a great question. It’s not science fiction like we’re trying to turn the fountain of youth clock back to us being children again. It’s basically turning on little tags that we have on our DNA that over time have like a dimmer switch on them. So when we’re trying to reverse aging, it’s basically taking that dimmer switch off and making these tags on the DNA active again so that the cells can function more normally.
Jan Jeffcoat: So this research, as you mentioned, is focused on eye disease. But are there other areas of aging research that you think are medically interesting or worth paying attention to?
Dr. Ryan Cole: Absolutely. We have certain types of cells in our body — as we age, or from injury or stress, or just time — that become senescent, or basically they become like zombie cells. They hang around, they cause chronic inflammation, but they don’t really serve a purpose. So there are certain medications that are being explored for this. One is an old leukemia drug. But there are natural compounds like quercetin that you find in apple peels, onions, dark berries, capers, broccoli, kale — some of the things kids don’t want to eat. But those, as well as something called fisetin, which we find in strawberries, apples, and persimmons — so maybe an apple a day does keep the doctor away. But yeah, some of these compounds will take these aging cells and make them go away.
Jan Jeffcoat: Can you just eat the food you just mentioned, or is it better to take that compound?
Dr. Ryan Cole: I think eating a healthy diet is one of the most important things. And we’re also exploring mitochondrial health. We’ve talked before about the importance of different light therapies to restore the activity of these little powerhouses of our cells. So there are a lot of areas of research.
Jan Jeffcoat: All right. And for more information on this and other medical research from the Independent Medical Alliance, you can go to imahealth.org. Dr. Ryan Cole, always a pleasure talking to you, sir. Thanks for joining us this morning.
