50 The Dream of Elixir Vitae to transmit large amounts of information to the body, new technologies will be necessary. Herein, I will first give a brief overview of the most promising technologies to address this problem:  gene  therapy  and  single-gene  interventions,  cell therapy  and  stem  cells,  and  nanotechnology.  Afterwards, I will attempt to foresee how we can cure aging based on these technologies and what breakthroughs will be necessary. GENE THERAPY Gene therapy has been hailed as a major tool to deliver infor- mation, genes in this case, to the human body. [8] Although genes can be injected directly [9], most gene therapy methods involve the use of a vector for the specific purpose of inserting DNA into cells. Viruses are the most widely used vector and several experiments have already shown the power of this tech- nology.  In  one  exciting  discovery,  virus-induced  expression of IGF-1, a growth factor, reversed age-related changes in the skeletal muscle of mice. Increases of almost 30% in strength were witnessed in treated old animals when compared to con- trols. [10] If aging may be reversed by the expression of key genes, then gene therapy holds great promise. Neuronal death has also been delayed by the introduction of a single gene using the herpes virus [11] and reversal of age-associated neural atro- phy was achieved in monkeys by gene therapy. [12] Gene therapy is promising but limited in scope due to the inherited ‘bandwidth’ constrains of the technique. Large-scale genetic engineering is already possible in embryos [13] and maybe  our  grandchildren  will  be  born  without  aging.  But present-day gene therapy does not provide a technology to cure aging in adults. The main reason is that viruses cannot ‘transport’ much genetic information. A typical virus carries up  to  a  few  hundred  thousand  base  pairs,  which  is  mean-