Girl frozen in time may hold key to ageing

[Evil Eye]

Scientists are hoping to gain new insights into the mysteries of ageing by sequencing the genome of a 17-year-old girl who has the body and behaviour of a tiny toddler.



Brooke Greenberg is old enough to drive a car and next year will be old enough to vote — but at 16lb in weight and just 30in tall, she is still the size of a one-year-old.



Until recently she had been regarded as a medical oddity but a preliminary study of her DNA has suggested her failure to grow could be linked to defects in the genes that make the rest of humanity grow old.



If confirmed, the research could give scientists a fresh understanding of ageing and even suggest new therapies for diseases linked to old age.

Interesting

 

[Durandal]

Woah, that's crazy? I'd wonder if in equivalency - will she be developing at the same scale? Like eventually will she reach adulthood, and she just has a slow aging process? That would be interesting to see this play out if that's the case, she's be like 50, but yet as far as her body was concerned, just a young adult. Woah.

 

[Evil Eye]

Yeah if she still dies at 80 or something it'd be bit of a shame.

 

[Durandal]

On the contrary it would be awesome if she had the ability to live to like 200 or something like that. We'd tap that genetic sequence pretty quick...if she does grow older physically, too...looking like she's in her twenties for many, many years may earn her a record modeling contract, too.

 

[Flurry]

At first, I thought someone was literally frozen. And this kind of reminds me of that one Robin Williams film I think called Jack. Where he Ages faster pysyhically *however you spell that* faster then he normally would.

 

[Jazzy]

Here is Brooke



[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nUU4w0vPEQ[/media]

 

[Evil Eye]

Thanks, Jazzy

On the contrary it would be awesome if she had the ability to live to like 200 or something like that. We'd tap that genetic sequence pretty quick...if she does grow older physically, too...looking like she's in her twenties for many, many years may earn her a record modeling contract, too.

Exactly.

*however you spell that*

Physically

 

[Durandal]

Hmm...it looks almost like it's the opposite of that birth defect, where the kids grow old too quick. Obviously there's some complication orthopaedically as well, because that 'crawling gait' isn't right.



Interesting. They didn't go into much detail, so superficially, everything seems young, but what about cell senescence? I'd wonder if there was any changes in DNA/Mitochondrial integrity...



Her parents won't probably need to worry about Empty-Nest Syndrome at least, but it is disconcerting to think that her parents will be passed away and gone, and she might not even have an awareness to even really know her parents and family...if she did ever develop eventually into adulthood - it would be pretty sad to know your family has been dead for fifty years already.

 

[Evil Eye]

I wonder if her telamores regrow...