Aubrey David Nicholas Jasper de Grey is a renowned English author and theoretician in the field of gerontology, born on April 20, 1963. He currently serves as the Chief Science Officer of the SENS Foundation, in addition to being the editor-in-chief of the academic journal Rejuvenation Research. His notable works include the book "The Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging" (1999) and the co-authored book "Ending Aging" (2007).
As a leading researcher in the field, de Grey's work focuses on the possibility of regenerative medicine being able to halt the aging process. He has developed the concept of "Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence" (SENS),a tissue-repair strategy aimed at rejuvenating the human body and potentially allowing for an indefinite lifespan. To achieve this, de Grey has identified seven types of molecular and cellular damage caused by essential metabolic processes.
The SENS Foundation, which de Grey co-founded, has identified these types of damage and proposed a panel of therapies designed to repair them. However, an article published in the viewpoint section of EMBO Reports by 28 scientists concluded that none of de Grey's therapies have been shown to extend the lifespan of any organism, let alone humans. The SENS Foundation has acknowledged this, stating that currently, there is no way to reverse the damage of aging.
Despite this, de Grey argues that this highlights a significant gap in understanding between basic scientists and technologists, as well as between biologists studying aging and those studying regenerative medicine. The 15-member Research Advisory Board of the SENS Foundation has signed an endorsement of the plausibility of the SENS approach.
De Grey is a fellow of several prestigious organizations, including the Gerontological Society of America, the American Aging Association, the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and an adviser to the Singularity Institute. He has been featured in various news sources, including CBS 60 Minutes, the BBC, The New York Times, Fortune Magazine, The Washington Post, TED, Popular Science, The Colbert Report, Time, and the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe.
