What is the MPrize?
The MPrize, or Methuselah Mouse Prize, is a growing $4.5 million prize, started in 2003 to award money to scientists setting records in mouse longevity and rejuvenation. The overall goal is to break what chief scientists Aubrey de Grey calls the “pro-aging trance” — the notion that aging is inevitable and no biotechnological interventions can stop it. De Grey and his foundation, the Methuselah Foundation, which administers the prize, hope that extensions of mouse lifespans will lead to the realization among the public that aging is not inevitable, and that with enough biological research, it may be overcome. De Grey hopes to use the MPrize to kickstart what he calls the “War on Aging”. The MPrize was inspired by similar technology prizes, such as the prize won by Charles Lindbergh for crossing the Atlantic, and the X-Prize for private space development. A typical lab mouse lives about 3 years, and a mouse with diverse genetics — not like the lab mice which have similar genes — lives ab
The Mprize competition is an exciting and viable mid-term strategy to deliver on the Methuselah Foundation’s mission of extending healthy human life. It directly accelerates the development of revolutionary new life extension therapies by awarding two cash prizes: one to the research team that breaks the world record for the oldest-ever mouse; and one to the team that develops the most successful late-onset rejuvenation. Previous winners have already proven that healthy life can be extended; each new winner pushes the outer limits of healthy life back even further. When asked how the Mprize will produce solutions to the diseases of aging, Methuselah Foundation CEO Dave Gobel says: “Human beings that work committedly to a common and beneficial goal are one of the most powerful forces in the known universe – I mean that. Given time, there is nothing that we can conceive of that we can’t eventually achieve.” This competitive research structure gathers together the widest array of resource
