Methuselah Mouse Prize
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[[Image:Mp mprize-286x59.jpg|thumb|right|274px|The official Mprize logo]]
The '''Methuselah Mouse Prize''' or '''Mprize''' is a growing $4.5 million [[prize]] started in 2003 to accelerate research into slowing and reversing cellular [[aging]] and breakdown in [[humans]]. It is governed by the [[Methuselah Foundation]],<ref name="MF">[http://www.methuselahfoundation.org The Methuselah Foundation]</ref> a non-profit [[501(c)#501.28c.29.283.29|501(c)(3)]] [[volunteer]] organization whose other interests beside the Mprize include [[Public relations|PR]] work for the acceptance of and interest in scientific [[anti-aging]] research and [[SENS]]-based research programs, all of which the foundation hopes will lead to a proposed [http://www.methuselahfoundation.org/index.php?pagename=mf_ibg Institute of Biomedical Gerontology]. <ref> [http://www.mprize.org/index.php?pagename=fundsdetaildisplay The Mprize Donation Details] </ref><ref name="MF"/><ref> {{cite web
| last = de Grey
| first = Aubrey
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = Outline proposal for an Institute of Biomedical Gerontology
| work =
| publisher =
| date =
| url = http://www.sens.org/IBGcase.htm
| format =
| doi =
| accessdate = 2006-12-13 }} </ref>
The Methuselah Foundation awards prizes to researchers who extend the [[longevity|lifespan]] of a [[mus musculus|mouse]] to unprecedented lengths. The prize is named after [[Methuselah]], a patriarch in the [[Bible]] said to have reached 969 years of age. Former [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] [[biogerontology|biogerontologist]] [[Aubrey de Grey]] is the chief scientist of the project, and also the co-founder alongside [[David Gobel]]. The Mprize has been covered in many news sources, including the [[BBC]]<ref> {{cite news
| last = Sprague
| first = Valerie
| coauthors =
| title = Battle for 'old mouse' prize
| work =
| pages =
| language =
| publisher = BBC News
| date = [[2003-09-04]]
| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cambridgeshire/3079834.stm
| accessdate = 2006-12-12 }} </ref><ref> {{cite news
| last = de Grey
| first = Aubrey
| coauthors =
| title = 'We will be able to live to 1,000'
| work =
| pages =
| language =
| publisher = BBC News
| date = [[2004-12-03]]
| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4003063.stm
| accessdate = 2006-12-12 }} </ref> and [[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune magazine]]<ref> {{cite news
| last = Stipp
| first = David
| coauthors =
| title = This Man Would Have You Live A Really, Really, Really, Really Long Time. If a mouse can survive the equivalent of 180 years, why not us? Or our kids? Scientific provocateur Aubrey de Grey has a plan.
| work =
| pages =
| language =
| publisher = FORTUNE Magazine
| date = [[2004-06-14]]
| url = http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2004/06/14/372618/index.htm
| accessdate = 2006-12-12 }} </ref>.
The prize broke through the $4 million [[USD]] barrier on [[December 11]], [[2006]].<ref> {{cite press release
| title = The $4 Million Mom
| publisher = The Methuselah Foundation
| date = [[2006-12-11]]
| url = http://www.mprize.org/index.php?pagename=newsdetaildisplay&ID=0113
| accessdate = 2006-12-12 }} </ref>
==Prize structure and current record holders==
The foundation currently awards the following two prizes:
:* A [[longevity]] prize for extending total lifespan
:* A [[Rejuvenation (aging)|rejuvenation]] prize focusing on intervention begun at older age
The foundation collects [[donations]] in order to increase the size of the prizes.
Whenever a record is broken, the researcher receives an amount based on the then current size of the prize fund and the percentage by which they exceeded the previous record.<ref> [http://www.mprize.org/index.php?pagename=structure The Mprize Prize Structure] </ref>
The '''''longevity prize''''' allows any type of intervention, including [[Selective breeding|breeding]] and [[genetic engineering]]; only a single mouse has to be presented. As of 2005, the record holder was a mouse whose [[growth hormone]] receptor had been [[knockout mouse|genetically knocked out]]; it lived for 1819 days (almost 5 years).<ref name="REC"> [http://www.mprize.org/index.php?pagename=recordholders The Mprize Record Holders] </ref> The '''''rejuvenation prize''''' deals with [[peer review|peer-reviewed]] studies involving at least 40 animals, 20 treated and 20 [[experimental control|control]]. Treatment may begin only at mid-life, and the average lifespan of the 10% longest living treated animals is used for the record. As of 2005, this record stood at 1356 days (about 3.7 years); the treatment was [[calorie restriction]].<ref name="REC" />
Until November 2004, the foundation ran a '''''reversal prize''''' instead of the rejuvenation prize, with the following rules: the treatment of the mouse could be started at any age, and days before treatment had started were counted double. The winner was a mouse that did not receive any dietary or pharmacological treatment at all, just an enriched environment. The mouse lived for 1551 days (about 4.2 years).<ref> [http://www.mprize.org/index.php?pagename=reversal The Mprize Reversal Prize] </ref>
The mouse strain most often used for studies of lifespan, called [[C57BL/6]], has a normal lifespan of about 3 years, while mice whose grandparents have been caught in the wild and are unharmed by [[inbreeding]] live nearly 4 years on average.<ref name="REC" /><ref> {{cite web
| last = Festing
| first = Michael
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = Inbred Strains of Mice: C57BL
| work =
| publisher = MRC Toxicology Unit, Hodgkin Building, University of Leicester, UK
| date = [[1998-04-09]]
| url = http://www.informatics.jax.org/external/festing/mouse/docs/C57BL.shtml
| format =
| doi =
| accessdate = 2006-12-12 }} </ref>
==The science behind SENS==
{{main|SENS}}
From his biogerontology work, de Grey believes there to be seven root causes of cellular aging, or as he puts it, "the set of accumulated side effects from [[metabolism]] that eventually kills us,"<ref> {{cite news
| last = Than
| first = Ker
| coauthors =
| title = Hang in There: The 25-Year Wait for Immortality
| work =
| pages =
| language =
| publisher = LiveScience Health SciTech
| date = [[2005-04-11]]
| url = http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/050411_aubrey_interview.html
| accessdate = 2006-12-13 }} </ref> all of which are reversible. They are:
:* Cell loss and cell [[atrophy]]
:* Nuclear [epi][[mutations]]
:* [[Mitochondrial]] mutations
:* Death-resistant cells
:* [[Extracellular]] crosslinks
:* [[Extracellular]] junk
:* [[Intracellular]] junk
For more in-depth info on these and the proposed reversions and obviations regarding these, see [http://www.sens.org/just7.htm SENS: The "seven deadly things" and why there are only seven].
==Goals and expectations==
The foundation believes that if slowing or reversing of cellular aging can be exhibited in mice, an enormous amount of funding would be made available for such research in humans, potentially including a massive government project similar to the [[Human Genome Project]] or by private for-profit companies.<ref name="MF"/><ref>[http://www.methuselahfoundation.org/index.php?pagename=mf_ibg The Methuselah Foundation-The Institute of Biomedical Gerontology<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==See also==
* [[List of basic life extension topics]]
==References==
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[[Category:Anti-aging]]
[[Category:Gerontology]]
[[Category:Life extension]]
[[Category:Medicine awards]]
[[Category:Biology awards]]
[[Category:Awards established in 2003]]
[[de:Methusalem-Maus-Preis]]
[[es:Premio Matusalén]]
[[fr:Prix de la Souris Mathusalem]]
[[nl:Methuselah Mouse Prize]]
[[ru:M Prize]]
[[fi:Methuselah Mouse Prize]]
[[sv:Methuselah Mouse Prize]]