Dr. Aubrey de Grey is one of the world's most influential biomedical gerontologists — more than anyone, the person who reframed aging as a problem we can actually solve. He is President and Chief Science Officer of the LEV Foundation (Longevity Escape Velocity), which he founded in 2022.
His central insight: aging is simply the lifelong accumulation of molecular and cellular damage — and damage can be repaired. Because small molecules can only slow the creation of new damage, he argues, truly defeating aging will require gene therapies and cell therapies, not wonder drugs. That conviction drives the LEV Foundation's landmark Robust Mouse Rejuvenation study: a 1,000-mouse experiment combining several interventions in middle-aged mice — "the single most important experiments going on in the entire community."
He co-founded the SENS Research Foundation and wrote Ending Aging, the book that gave the field its damage-repair paradigm. He champions the idea of longevity escape velocity — the point at which medicine adds more than a year of healthy life for every year that passes.
Based in California's Bay Area for some fifteen years, he is blunt about what's missing: not the science, but the will and the funding. "Longevity is not just an industry," he says. "It's a crusade."
LEV Foundation · President & CSORobust Mouse RejuvenationSENS · co-founderAuthor · Ending Aging
Where our quest began — Dublin, and a walk in California
Our whole journey began with Aubrey. We first met him at the Longevity Summit in Dublin — his conference — right as we were starting our quest around the world; he introduced us to scientists everywhere, who then welcomed us to their labs across the globe. Months later he took us on a walk through a park in Los Gatos, California, talking mouse rejuvenation and escape velocity. And in 2026 we were back in Dublin — this time with Marek on stage — as friends.
Longevity Summit Dublin
Ireland · 2023
Where the quest began. Aubrey's summit opened the door — and he introduced us to scientists all around the world.
Los Gatos
California, USA · 2024
A walk-and-talk through a California park — on his 1,000-mouse study, gene and cell therapies, and escape velocity.
Back in Dublin
Ireland · 2026
Together again at the summit — this time with Marek speaking, and Aubrey a friend cheering us on.
"Thank you for supporting us on this journey." — "Pleasure. Absolutely."
— Marek Piotrowski & Aubrey de Grey, Los Gatos
On the quest
Moments with Aubrey
Our walk in CaliforniaLos Gatos — mouse rejuvenation & escape velocityAt the summitLongevity Summit DublinMaking the caseOn damage repair, DublinTwo generationsAubrey & Aleksander, in conversationWhere the quest beganMarek, Aubrey & Alek — Dublin
In his words
On aging, defeated
"We're not trying hard enough — because we've had thousands of years of psychological denial and self-programming."
Aubrey de Grey · Los Gatos, California
Lifespan is a side effect of healthspan. You stay alive by staying healthy. Nobody wants to get sick — so let's just stop them getting sick.
Aubrey de Grey
Small molecules can only slow the creation of new damage. To actually defeat aging, we absolutely need gene therapies and cell therapies — not wonder drugs.
Aubrey de Grey
The first person to live to 1,000 is probably already alive today.
Aubrey de Grey
Big Pharma aren't the bad guys. The FDA aren't the bad guys. The bad guys are us — the scientists — for not making a strong enough case for prevention.
Aubrey de Grey
In his own words
Straight from the interview
Pulled from our conversations with Aubrey — at the Longevity Summit in Dublin, and on a walk in Los Gatos, California — his science, his approach, and his message to the world.
Aubrey's view on longevity
Aging is repairable damage. Defeating it will take gene and cell therapies — not wonder drugs — to reach "longevity escape velocity."
"There are plenty of aspects of aging that will simply never be addressed by small molecules and absolutely need gene therapies or cell therapies. We have to include them now."
Los Gatos · 2024
How Aubrey does the science
His LEV Foundation runs the boldest experiment in the field — 1,000 mice, combining several therapies in middle age, going where others won't.
"It's looking damn good. These combinations are adding up — doing better than any individual intervention does."
Robust Mouse Rejuvenation
His message to the world
The obstacle isn't the biology — it's a few thousand years of resigned acceptance. His call: be rational, and get to work.
"People have been making excuses for aging since the dawn of civilisation. We now know how to bring it under medical control — we just need to be more rational about this."
The video interview is coming. Recorded interviews go live after the launch of the film & series Live Beyond.
Selected passages from our conversations with Dr. Aubrey de Grey — at the Longevity Summit in Dublin (2023) and on a walk in Los Gatos, California (2024).
On the 1,000-mouse experiment
Marek Piotrowski"What's happened in your research?"
Aubrey de Grey"We're roughly a year into a huge 1,000-mouse experiment, combining a bunch of individually promising treatments starting in middle age — when the mice are already two-thirds of the way through their normal lifespan. It's looking damn good. These combinations are adding up; they're doing better than any individual intervention does. We definitely need to do more, but it's a great start."
On why it takes gene and cell therapies
Aubrey de Grey"We understand pretty well what aging is — the accumulation of various types of molecular and cellular damage. Small molecules are really only capable of modulating the creation of new damage. There are plenty of aspects of aging that will simply never be addressed by small molecules and absolutely need gene therapies or cell therapies. So we have to include them now. That's why our experiments are, honestly, the single most important ones going on in the entire community."
On the tipping point
Aubrey de Grey"Every incremental step forward makes the story more persuasive, and makes it less possible for people to say the whole thing is science fiction. There will come a tipping point — a sudden one, because of the herd-mentality phenomenon: when a critical mass of opinion-formers say something, everybody follows. I don't do hope. I just plug away, and it takes as long as it takes."
On longevity escape velocity
Aubrey de Grey"I'd say an 80% chance that ten years from now we'll have basically solved aging in all but name — a full-blown war on aging. Maybe a 20–30% chance we'll have actually reached longevity escape velocity by then; my 50% timeframe for that is 12 to 15 years. That means postponing the health problems of late life by more than one year for every year that passes."
On pharma and prevention
Aubrey de Grey"The things people say about the incentive structure of big pharma are oversimplifications. Big Pharma aren't the bad guys, the FDA aren't the bad guys, the government aren't the bad guys. The bad guys are us — the scientists — for not making a strong enough case for preventative medicine. Once the public are eager to pay for prevention, Big Pharma will follow the money with a smile."
His message to the world
Aubrey de Grey"People have been making excuses for aging since the dawn of civilisation, because that was the only way to put it out of our minds. Only in the past 25 years has that changed. We now know how to develop technologies that will bring aging under comprehensive medical control — and we're not trying hard enough. We just need to be more rational about this. Remember: lifespan is a side effect of healthspan. You stay alive by staying healthy."
More passages from the full interview will be published here.
Continue the quest
More minds on the quest
Aubrey de Grey explores Radical Life Extension on the Longevity Map — here are others on the same frontier, and the full cast of 100+.
