FoundMyFitness · 2022-08-24 · Rhonda Patrick (host), George Church
George Church, PhD: Rewriting Genomes to Eradicate Disease and Aging
57 research-tied claims examined: 3 overstated 3 context 42 supported 5 corroborated online 4 unverified
3 Overstated
The speed and cost-efficiency of reading and writing DNA has improved exponentially by 10 to 30 million-fold over the last decade or two, doubling at least once a year and sometimes by a factor of 10 per year.
"How fast? It doubles at least once a year, sometimes we'll get a factor of 10 per year, as measured by both reading and writing DNA. Most of the 10, 20, 30 million-fold has occurred within the last decade or two." (said at 0:31:55)
While the throughput and cost-efficiency of DNA sequencing (reading DNA) improved by roughly 100,000-fold to several million-fold following the introduction of next-generation sequencing in the mid-2000s—temporarily outpacing Moore's law with annual 5- to 10-fold gains—DNA synthesis (writing DNA) has advanced at a substantially slower rate (typically several thousand-fold for standard gene synthesis rather than tens of millions-fold). Bundling both reading and writing together under a 10- to 30-million-fold improvement over the last two decades overstates the progress achieved in DNA synthesis.
Gene therapies using follistatin and telomerase reproducibly improve hallmarks, biomarkers, and diseases of aging across mouse models.
"experiments with follistatin and telomerase, so that affects the ends of the chromosomes, the telomeres. Follistatin is mostly muscle-aimed. But each of these has, you know, reproducible impact on hallmarks of aging, biomarkers of aging, and diseases of aging." (said at 1:01:56)
While telomerase (TERT) gene therapy has been shown in pre-clinical mouse models to improve select aging biomarkers and extend median lifespan (e.g., Bernardes de Jesus et al., 2012), claiming that follistatin and telomerase gene therapies have established, reproducible impacts across hallmarks, biomarkers, and diseases of aging overstates the current scientific evidence. A widely cited study reporting simultaneous lifespan extension and reversal of aging hallmarks using CMV-delivered telomerase and follistatin in mice (Dabke et al., PNAS 2022) was subsequently retracted due to concerns regarding data integrity. Outside of established animal work on follistatin for muscle mass and specific TERT gene therapy models, evidence across broader aging hallmarks remains preliminary, unverified in humans, and limited by non-reproducibility.
- partial: Telomerase gene therapy in adult and old mice delays aging and increases longevity without… (EMBO molecular medicine 2012) · cited 539x in the literature
"Treatment of 1- and 2-year old mice with an adeno associated virus (AAV) of wide tropism expressing mouse TERT had remarkable beneficial effects on health and fitness, including insulin sensitivity, osteoporosis, neuromuscular coordination and several molecular biomarkers of aging... Finally, telomerase-treated mice, both at 1-year and at 2-year of age, had an increase in median lifespan of 24 and 13%, respectively." (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi) - contradicts: New intranasal and injectable gene therapy for healthy life extension. (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2022)RETRACTED · cited 55x in the literature
"We found that the mouse cytomegalovirus (MCMV) carrying exogenous TERT or FST (MCMVTERT or MCMVFST) extended median lifespan by 41.4% and 32.5%, respectively." (abstract, results (Retracted Publication), passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi)
Vitamin A deficiency causes approximately 1 million deaths per year worldwide.
"Golden rice is an example of something where vitamin A deficiency kills a million people a year" (said at 1:26:16)
While vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a well-established cause of increased morbidity, visual impairment, and child mortality—and large trials demonstrate that supplementation significantly reduces all-cause child mortality—the claim that it causes 1 million deaths per year substantially overstates current global mortality figures. According to Global Burden of Disease (GBD 2021) data, annual global deaths attributable to VAD were estimated at approximately 188,500 in 1990 and have fallen to approximately 17,400 in 2021. The figure of 'one million' appears in older scientific literature either as a combined estimate of global deaths together with instances of blindness, or as a combined mortality figure across multiple micronutrient deficiencies (such as vitamin A and zinc combined).
- context: A global clinical view on vitamin A and carotenoids. (The American journal of clinical nutrition 2012) · cited 205x in the literature
"Deficiency, which is widespread throughout the developing world, is responsible for a million or more instances of unnecessary death and blindness each year." (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi) - supports: Vitamin A supplementation for preventing morbidity and mortality in children from six mont… (The Cochrane database of systematic reviews 2022) · cited 73x in the literature
"Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a major public health problem in low- and middle-income countries, affecting 190 million children under five years of age and leading to many adverse health consequences, including death." (abstract, background, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi) - contradicts: Global, regional, and national burden of vitamin A deficiency (1990-2021) and projections … (Frontiers in nutrition 2025)
"Between 1990 and 2021, the global number of deaths attributable to VAD decreased from 188458.416 to 17374.404; the ASR declined from 3.04 to 0.27 per 100,000 population (EAPC: -7.81%)." (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi)
Unverified means no publication matching the claim was located; it does not prove the claim false. Spotted an error? See the corrections policy - disputes from the people quoted are prioritized.