Gene Therapy

Science Daily posted an article yesterday on permanent gene therapy  I think this kind of treatment is going to become more and more commonplace as we discover the genetic basis for chronic diseases.  This has the potential to become a cure for a lot of debilitating diseases that right now we can do almost nothing for.  I think this is really going to start getting interesting when we are able to create new proteins that do a better job than the ones evolution has bequeathed upon us, and we can put the gene sequences for these better proteins into our DNA.  This has great potential for life extension as we will be able to come up with better free radical scavengers, better DNA repair mechanisms, better proteins for removing AGEs, and on and on.  This kind of therapy could also be augmented with medical nanobots, which could assist with diseases that aren't caused by underlying genetics, but by invasion or exposure to harmful chemicals.  Alas, to this date we only have caloric restriction to extend our lives, and maybe cryonics to preserve us if we don't make it to escape velocity.