In his early 20s, Michael West knew very clearly his holy goal: to conquer aging and death, "I'm talking about ending the suffering of aging, cancer, heart disease and so on."
After getting his PhD in biology, West established his biotech firm committed to ending the ravages of aging. His company did eventually identify, the enzyme that replenishes telomeres. Telomeres alone proved not to be enough to reverse aging, and West became fascinated with work on newly discovered stem cells. It wasn't long, though, before West got wind of Gibelli's cloning feats, and he immediately seized on the concept as one far superior to producing "generic" stem cells. But, West wondered, why would you treat patients with another person's cells--when you could give patients their very own cells? In a flash, West was in talks with Advanced Cell Technology--at that time an agricultural genetics company--and within the year became CEO, then owner of the venture.
Both Gibelli and West knew that they would need to race to form useful therapies before controversy overshadowed their efforts. Because no new treatments can be given to humans without first being tested in animals. Gibelli and West needed someone with connection in the research world who could get those studies up and running right way. As it turned out, that person was working just a mile or so down the road.