Keeping up with the Immortal Jellyfish: Biological Immortality in the Animal Kingdom & Applications for Prolonging Human Lifespan
Project by Polygence alum Lily
Project's result
Lily gave a live conference talk at the Spring 2023 Symposium Rising Scholars where she won the First Place Talks Award. She also published a paper in the Journal of Student Research.
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Summary
Biological immortality is the state in which organisms do not die of old age or the natural and inevitable breakdown
of cells over time. Although biological immortality is not currently the reality in humans, as our rate of mortality
increases as we age, interestingly enough, biological immortality has been observed throughout the animal kingdom
in organisms including the Hydra flatworm, Turritopsis dohrnii jellyfish, lobsters, and tardigrades. To achieve the
shared goal of biological immortality, however, the aforementioned organisms employ various different mechanisms
ranging from controlling FoxO gene expression to reversibly halting metabolism. The following paper overviews this
variety of mechanisms and attempts to apply them to humans in order to evaluate the question: “Is it possible for
humans to become biologically immortal?”
Saam
Polygence mentor
MPH Master of Public Health candidate
Subjects
Biology, Psychology, Quantitative
Expertise
biology, biochemistry, immunology, chemistry, math
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Lily
Student
Hi! My name is Lily Nguyen, and my project is on biological immortality in the animal kingdom and how it relates to the possibilities of naturally extending human lifespan. I first became fascinated with the concept of biological immortality after learning that over 1 out of 5 Americans have a fear of death, myself included!
School
James C. Enochs High School
Graduation Year
2023
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