Feel free to copy/print out the following letter to send to potential funding partners... Thanks to Dave Gobel for creating this document from a previous discussion.
Date
My Name
My Address
E-mail:
Phone:
Subject: Support for leading biomedical anti-aging researchers
Dear ---,
My name is ---. I am a member of the US nonprofit educational organization “Immortality Institute” (http://www.imminst.org). The Immortality Institute is an umbrella organization that serves as a platform for its members to exhibit, exchange and debate ideas and information regarding the possibility of human physical immortality.
The members of the Immortality Institute are convinced that biomedical research has the potential to significantly extend the healthy human lifespan. We want to support leading biomedical aging researchers, so that a safe and effective anti-aging therapy can be made available as soon as possible.
You may know that biomedical research has already started to unlock the secrets of aging. Scientists have already been able to double and triple the healthy lifespan of flies, worms, rats and mice and they already know a number of master genes, which control the aging process.
Here are some examples of recent breakthroughs of molecular aging research:
-- In December 2000 Dr. Stephen Helfand and other researchers from the University of Connecticut Health Center discovered a gene, that doubles the average life span of fruit flies This gene is also found in humans and opens the way for new therapies that could extend the average human life span to 150 years.
-- In September 2001 Dr. Robert Costa from the University of Illinois at Chicago published a study about the regenerative potential of the FoxM1B-gene. “Ponce de Leon was looking in the wrong place for the fountain of youth,“ said Dr. Costa. “He should have looked for the FoxM1B-gene.“
-- In February 2002 researchers from the Icelandic biotech firm DeCode Genetics pinpointed the Methuselah gene, which contributes to extreme longevity. Dr. Kari Stafansson, the CEO of DeCode said: “We know the location of this gene. Soon we will study its exact DNA sequence and work out how it works in the body. You can then think of making drugs that could replicate its action. There is no reason why we cannot do this“.
The potential of biomedical aging research is clear. But aging research is underfunded. Many exciting research projects can’t be realized because there is little adequate funding. We need the help of financially influential people, who want to support biomedical aging research.
We would be happy to provide you with documentation for the above and numerous other examples of valid research currently underway, as well as answer all your remaining questions. We can also give you the necessary contact addresses of the researchers.
Of course, you will be able to visit the laboratories of the researchers and talk to them personally, before making an investment/funding decision. We also believe that a safe and effective anti-aging therapy will have a large market potential worldwide. So this research can be interesting from a business point of view as well.
If you wish for this funding to be a private matter, we can assure your anonymity.
Sincerely,
_______________
