1 immortality?
"Human life is limited, everyone will get old, sick and die, but who knows, why do we get old, sick and die?"
On the lecture platform, the nearly seventy-year-old professor slowly narrates, the sound echoes through the speakers in the spacious classroom.
"Everyone knows that the unit of life is the cell. Each one of us here is produced by the division of a small fertilized egg cell."
"1 turns into 2, 2 turns into 4, 4 turns into 8...."
Under the podium, Avesta propped her chin on her hand, her right hand moving the ballpoint pen, staring at the projection screen in boredom.
"Cells will also grow old, weak and die. Newly divided cells are not completely replaced by lost cells. This is the secret of our constant growth."
"However, this kind of division is not infinite."
"In 1965, Professor Hayflick of Stanford University discovered that human cells cannot reproduce more than 57 times, and each cell will die after being reproduced 56 times."
"It's like, there is a counter inside the cell, it determines when cells will stop dividing and when people will age...."
"Theoretically, human cells can divide up to 56 times at most. Through calculated by cell division cycle, the maximum life span of a human being should be around 120 years, and this theory, is said to be…."
Clink!
Just as she listened in fascination, Avesta's fingers suddenly slipped and the ballpoint pen flew out and fell to the bottom of the table.
Avesta immediately bowed her back, reaching out her hand to touch the ground.
"Huh?"
Just when her head dropped below the table, while absentmindedly, a black light caught her eye.
Don't ask why the light is black. In the blink of an eye, Avesta definitely saw a black light.
She unconsciously looked back.
It's a long, slender tree-shaped object, its entire body black as ink. It's stuck under the table, embedded in a hidden recess.
So, after Avesta picked up the pen, she once again stretched out her arm and hooked it towards that position.
As she exerted a little force, there was only a crackling sound and the inky black thing was successfully pulled out.
"That student over there who is hiding under the table, stand up and answer this ——"
But at this moment, the professor's voice suddenly came from the podium.
"Puff!"
Behind her, a group of fellow dormitory members laughed lightly.
Avesta hurriedly crawled out from under the table, so embarrassed that her face turned red.
She looked at the professor who was still smiling, then bowed her head and glanced at the textbook, then said with difficulty, "Uh, Hayflick limit?"
"Please sit."
The professor pressed his hand and made Avesta sit down.
Lecture continues.
"At both ends of DNA, in the presence of something called 'telomeres', this thing plays a vital role in cell division."
"It is responsible for keeping genomes intact, every time a cell divides, the telomeres get shorter. When telomeres are too short to preserve genetic structures, cells will inhibit growth, stop replication and enter senescence."
"This is the Hayflick limit."
After speaking, the professor turned around and quickly wrote down two words "Hayflick limit" on the blackboard.
Avesta sat down again and sighed. While the professor was writing, she quickly raised the thing in her hand and glanced at it.
emmmmm...
After looking at it, Avesta's interest was completely gone.
It turned out that the black, unremarkable object was nothing special, but just a USB stick.
Different from USB on the market, the length of this USB is much longer than that of an ordinary USB, approximately twelve to thirteen centimeters, it looks like a carbon rod.
Only the USB interface reveals the fact that it is just a USB.
Except for that, the entire USB is integrated, pitch black, even the trademark and memory logo do not exist.
But for the sake of the cool look, Avesta finally put the USB in her pocket and waited to go back to the dorm to study it.
At this time, the professor continued to lecture and said: "Based on the current level of science and technology, It is impossible for cells to exceed the Hayflick limit, but we can also get around this problem in other ways... "
After speaking, the teacher wrote down two words on the blackboard again:
Immortal HeLa.
"Everyone will definitely think, if there is a way to prevent telomeres from wearing out, can our cells be immortal?"
"The answer is affirmative!"
The professor enthusiastically added the words 'HeLa cell line' under the 'Immortal HeLa'.
"HeLa cell line, is a cell strain isolated from human cervical cancer tissue in 1951, contributed by Henrietta Lacks."
"Researchers found that cells collected from Lacus not only did not die, on the contrary appeared signs of growing up, the number of cells doubles every 24 hours."
"Later it was discovered that the reason why these cells do not die is, tumor virus that causes cervical cancer, the gene of this virus can change the 'switch' of normal cell lifespan, this allows cells to live forever and multiply indefinitely.."
"In later years, HeLa cells are provided to research institutions across the Commonwealth, it helped scientists achieve cell cloning, it has also been used to investigate the effects of nuclear radiation on the human body, it has also been on a rocket that flies into space , studying cell proliferation in weightlessness...."
"According to data from medical and biological databases, as of this year, there have been more than 65,000 papers related to HeLa cells, more than 50 million tons of HeLa cells have been cultured...."
"So, there is a common sense that everyone knows in future generations —— Cancer cell lines are 'immortal', as long as there is a suitable training environment, then it can divide indefinitely."
At this point, many students below the stage began to spontaneously applaud, this was a greeting to the contributor.
"Of course, if we humans use this 'switch', this way will lead to death!"
The professor changed the subject and suppressed the applause.
"After all, if the cell division cycle in our body is disrupted, can't age on time, then it will turn into a malignant tumor, threatening our lives!"
"We humans continue to advance on the road to the pursuit of truth, as early as the clan society, the average life span of human beings was less than 20 years, by the Middle Ages, the average life span of humans had advanced to 40 years..."
"And with the advent of science, human civilization has completely entered a period of rapid development, in just a few dozen years, the average life expectancy of people in the Earth is approaching 80 years!"
"But is this enough?"
"Even if human beings develop to the extreme, they will only be 120 years old according to Hayflick limit, far from reaching the level of immortality, so what to do?"
Pausing for a moment, the professor continued speaking.
"So, the turning point comes..."
"In 2002, the 'switch' was finally found, Cambridge University professor John Sulston and three other people discovered a genetic regulatory mechanism called 'programmed cell death'."
The professor once again wrote down the words 'Programmed cell death' on the blackboard, and at the same time drew a circle.
With a cracking sound, because the fingers used too much force, the chalk immediately cracked.
"This discovery shocked the entire medical community, because it identifies that cell death is a physiological, to active 'suicide', like a program that has been programmed!"
The professor spread his hands out, "That is to say, we thought aging was a natural process. But in fact, it may be a genetic defect! If we could fix this flaw, it is possible to defeat aging and gain eternal life!
The audience suddenly cheered.
It's like a new door has been opened, Avesta's pupils shrank, using only the sound she could hear, constantly repeating those two magical words.
"Eternal life?"
"Eternal life..."
"So, for those of you who major in biological sciences, you guys are the most promising generation to repair genetic defects."
The professor's face revealed a smile of anticipation, "Or it can be said that, you guys, are the generation closest to immortality in human history!"
The study program has now come to an end.
The white-haired professor raised his hand to wipe away his sweat with a towel, with anticipation and a sigh, he concluded:
"It has to be said that regarding the vast ocean of truth, we humans still know absolutely nothing. Perhaps even the unattainable dream of eternal life, it's just the first step in pursuing the truth..."
"But no matter what, the future belongs to you..."
"Okay, school is over!"
Clap clap clap clap clap ...
The audience suddenly burst into warm applause.
