Brooke the Immortal: An American Child May Hold Secrets to Aging - SPIEGEL ONLINE:
"'Different parts of her body are developing at different rates, as if they were not a unit but parts of separate organisms,' Walker explains. He believes that there is only one explanation -- a failure of central control genes.
Normally, a carefully orchestrated genetic program allows a tiny egg cell to grow into an adult body. But if this master plan is impaired, the marvel of growth goes awry. Walker believes that this is precisely what has happened with Brooke. Genes that play an important role in physical development are either inactive or defective. 'If we identify those genes, we might be able to understand the development and subsequently the aging of the body,' says the scientist.
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'Aging happens when developmental genes merely run out of meaningful information and subsequently cause chaos,' Walker says. His idea is to simply shut off the master genes of development. This, he hopes, will put a stop to the aging process. If Walker is right, the consequences will be dramatic. A body manipulated in this fashion would no longer change, but would only perform repair work. Eternal life would be within reach."