Walker’s theory is that development is a combination of integration and change within the body. All our parts need to align with the changes that are happening to them and around them and after we reach our physical peak — like an old car — there’s internal friction and we start to deteriorate. When Walker started studying Greenberg, he presumed that the genetic mechanism that causes change is damaged in her. “This was very exciting because it meant that if it was damaged, that the mutation would be a marker for the genes that cause us to change, and that, therefore, might be an aging gene,” he says.
By comparing the genomes of all four girls, Walker is hopeful his research team is getting closer to identifying a gene, which if interfered with, could stall aging. Which is what everyone is racing to find.
“We are all hoping for the fantasy scenario where we lock onto some key modulator of aging processes that would not only enable an understanding of how to manipulate lifespan and make us live longer, but could it also make us more well,” says Schadt. For instance, easing the disease burden of disorders like Alzheimer’s, by having the ability to slow its progression.
Even though Greenberg has now passed away, researchers say the work can continue since they still have her DNA. The scientists now have the capabilities of resequencing her genes and trying again. When Greenberg started to get very ill this summer, Schadt and his team went to the hospital to get both tissue and blood samples for future sequencing.
“We still know very little about aging. Progress in understanding aging hasn’t been amazing. Many of the paths taken haven’t delivered as we thought they would,” says Schadt. “The contribution of someone like Brooke could help tremendously. Because a case like hers is so unique, the advances it could drive could be amazing and well worth the effort to explore.”
Read more: What We Can Learn From Brooke Greenberg, the Girl Who Never Grew Up | TIME.com http://healthland.time.com/2013/10/30/what-we-can-learn-from-the-girl-who-never-grew-up/#ixzz2jFKfFgEz