Is there any immortal creature in the world? Despite only being only three millimeters in diameter on average, adult versions of immortal jellyfish (Turritopsis dohrnii) have a huge party trick: they can roll back their biological clock when injured or on the verge of starvation. This means, in theory, they could live forever. Could humans harness their abilities to eradicate ageing completely?

       As scientists have known, the reason of human ageing is a process called trans-differentiation. “This is about how a fully formed specialized adult cell can become another type of specialized adult cell. It’s how a cell can adapt,” explains Dr. Maria Pia Miglietta. The exact mechanism behind trans-differentiation is still a mystery to scientists. However, as Miglietta explains, the answer will likely be found in the jellyfish’s genes. “It most certainly has something to do with the DNA,” she says. “It’s the DNA that programs a cell––certain genes being ‘turned on’ or ‘off’ will determine what sort of cell it is. We’re far away from any kind of real-world application,” says Miglietta. “But we hope that studying what happens in these jellyfish can tell us how their genes change cells––and how these changed cells integrate with others. This is the base of understanding cellular regeneration and tissue regeneration.” 

      However, there are many challenges. These jellyfish have only been studied sporadically since the early 1980s, meaning experts have only a few decades’ worth of data. While an immortal jellyfish can age in reverse, it can also be easily killed by predators including various fish, sharks, turtles and even other jellyfish. “They’re incredibly sensitive, from the water temperature to their plankton and fish egg diet,” says Miglietta. “The real paradox is they’re actually really hard to keep alive!”