Dr. Marsteller Chapter 8
8
For the next
month, Dr. Marsteller’s research was splashed all over newspapers, news
websites and magazines. The main
headline was ‘fountain of youth discovered.’
Dr. Marsteller took the humble professional act on the road, speaking at
numerous engagements. Pictures of his
so-called ageless mice were on front pages everywhere. Dr. Marsteller was soon demanding a large sum
for a talk. Most laboratories would be
happy for a little publicity on the news and would send press releases through
the university, hoping CNN would run a blurb on their website. In Dr. Marsteller’s case, he was in demand,
with networks receiving a ratings spike every time he appeared. On television he was electric: cautioning
people that this is something that can only be done with embryos in mice and it
was yet too dangerous to attempt with humans.
He had to clarify to the hopeful elderly who wanted a magic potion to
live forever that he could not stop the aging process but experiments were
underway to see if it was possible. He
told them to pray for him. In a week he
was due to appear on the biggest Sunday morning news program in the country,
‘The Core.’
Some
detractors stepped forward within the scientific community, but they couldn’t
be heard over the loud roar of the media.
Why had the mice matured before they stopped aging? It was something Dr. Marsteller hadn’t
explained. But Dr. Marsteller was a
respected scientist. He couldn’t be
lying, could he? Most scientists set out
to expand on Dr. Marsteller’s research.
Like Dr. Marsteller, they were interested in a way to administer his
methods to a young mouse - the equivalent of a mid-20s human- to see if they
could keep the mouse at this age for eternity.
With the
genius of the first experiments (if they had happened), with the mice reaching
young adulthood before they stopped aging, it might be possible to catch them
in young adulthood and transfect the cells so they expressed telomerase and
this should retard the aging process, theorized Dr. Marsteller. As he indulged himself in his delusions,
Alexandra came into the office to tersely say that she hoped Dr. Marsteller
could take time away from his corruption to show up at her PhD defense and sign
the from to clear her to graduate.
-You don’t
have to go to Europe or something to talk about your fraud, do you?
-You watch
your mouth, miss.
-How can
you sit there and accept these accolades, when this experiment is simply not
true.
-It will
work; you’re just too inept to figure it out.
He caught
her eying her old notebook on the desk.
Dr. Marsteller grabbed it and went over to a safe behind a framed
reprint of a John Selburg painting on the wall and locked it in.
-Don’t even
think about it. I will ruin you.
Her face
expressed nothing but pity.
-Well,
don’t forget my defense next week.
-I’ll be
there. You just keep your mouth shut.
This originally appeared in Dr. Marsteller