EPISODE 1 – LOSING TIMEA team’s effort to extend human life shows promise with adverse consequences.
A team’s effort to extend human life shows promise with adverse consequences.
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Make Every Second Count
Like an adult lab rat, each day of Palmyra’s life amounts to a little more than a month. By living 35 times faster than other humans, her life expectancy should range from three to five years. Obviously, it wasn’t always this way, otherwise she wouldn’t have lasted past kindergarten. Palmyra’s circadian rhythm sped up when she reached the age of 30. So she has perhaps only another two years of life—unless she discovers a cure.
As a mathematician, she finds herself in this predicament after her colleague Ricardo modified her DNA without proper testing. Determined to find a cure, Palmyra splits her valuable hours between researching a solution and tracking down the man who has not shown up for work since discovering the problem.
No Time to Waste
Her missing colleague is a neuroscientist who was exploring longevity methods. By combining forces, they developed an algorithm for modifying DNA with CRISPR. The skeptic scientific community was less enthusiastic about the research that the optimistic duo uploaded to PubMed. Their collective negative peer review delayed clinical trials.
With faith in the outcome, Ricardo said he modified his own genes and felt more youthful. He urged Palmyra to do the same. However, after editing Palmyra’s DNA, it became apparent that Ricardo had not tested it on himself as he said. Palmyra is the lab rat suffering consequences, while Ricardo has fled to an unknown destination.
Time is Money
With so little time remaining, you don’t need to be a mathematician to figure out that paying others for lengthy tasks is a better use of time for Palmyra. Each minute is more valuable than anyone she hires.
The logical plan of action is to study the criticism that peers posted online. Ones that highlight specific scientific flaws in the longevity theory are most helpful. These are the people Palmyra wants to contact. But she can’t just say, “I ignored your critique and pushed ahead with human trials. Can you fix it?”
Palmyra must craft a working theory upon which she can solicit further insights from the medical community. However, since her background is in arithmetic, she needs another neuroscience partner. She runs into the same obstacle with each candidate. They are unavailable until months in the future.
While pouring over internet data in frustration late at night, Palmyra shouts, “This is madness. I need to find a way to fix this… quickly!”
She immediately answers her ringing phone at this late hour. “Hello?”
A raspy voice responds, “Hi, I was expecting to leave a message. My name is Dr. Evander Tatum. I saw your urgent request for help and am interested in your research.”
Palmyra replies, “Great. Send me your curriculum vitae and meet me in my office at 8 o’clock in the morning.”
With impressive credentials, Palmyra doesn’t have time to debate why he’s not busy on other projects. Apparently, he’s a recent graduate whose interest in CRISPR precedes his college admission.
In a somber interview, Palmyra confesses her predicament. “My DNA has been modified. Instead of lengthening life, mine has shortened to that of a lab rat.”
Evander anticipates the request. “So you need help finding a cure, quickly. But how did you manage to…?”
She interrupts his further inquiry. “I don’t have the luxury of extensive discussion. If you’re ready to get to work, the PubMed article explains it all. We need to identify and remedy the fallacy.
“Instead of slowing down the aging process to extend my lifespan by orders of magnitude, my colleague’s modification has accelerated aging. We must figure out where the flaw lies, and find a way to reverse it.”
Evander nods, his expression serious. “I understand the urgency. Let me review the research article and the critiques. I’ll do my best to identify any potential errors or oversights.”
Time is Running Out
After he thoroughly considers the research, they dive into an intense discussion, exploring different theories and possibilities. A month passes since Palmyra’s gene modification. She establishes a six-month deadline for Evander to find a cure.
He comes up with several logical theories but testing the results requires something Palmyra has little of—time. Also, being the only human Subject with the defect limits data for age groups, gender, and control groups, as would be the case in a large double-blind study.
They replicate the original test on adult albino lab rats, who live at the same rate as Palmyra. But then they must observe progress over time to quantify results.
When another month passes, she asks, “Can you tell if there’s any improvement?”
He replies, “I know you don’t want to hear this, but it’s too soon to tell.”
In frustration, Palmyra counters, “If I can just get back to normal human age progression, it would be progress. When can I try it out?”
Evander emphasizes, “It’s not like we have a menu of aging options from which to pick. In light of the urgency, I’ve modified the DNA of six different rats and am going to perform some parallel tests on a lower species.”
Palmyra finds no comfort in the uncertainty of his news. While lying in bed that night, she begins somberly imagining that she may not live to see a remedy.
Continue…
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