Good afternoon, my name is John Missoli, and I've been asked to share with you a little of the background surrounding the Ambrosia Project. In light of recent developments in this area of research, I am sure you will be relieved to know that the Ambrosia Project has maintained the highest ethical and legal standards during product development. In fact, I can assure you that the Ambrosia Project is far ahead of the field, and at the current rate or progress, GenTel will be the first to bring this product to market. I'm sure you'll agree that this is a project worth funding, an amazing and significant contribution to science, and to the health of the world in general.

Ambrosia is all about telomeres. What are telomeres? Basically, telomeres are "junk" DNA attached to the end of a chromosome. But one man's "junk" is another man's eternity, and I think you'll see we've taken an innovative approach to "recycling" with the Ambrosia project.

Imagine a strand of DNA. A chromosome built up out of bits and pieces, a house of cards, a book made up of individual words... words which tell the story of who you are and what your body will be like from day to day and year to year. Now imagine that you need to make a copy of that book but your photocopier automatically cuts off the first one or two pages, and the last one or two pages. Telomeres are the body's answer to that defective copy machine.

Telomeres are the blank pages at the beginning and end of the book, and if the copier cuts them off, it does no harm to the meaning of the book. However, over time the length of the telomere gets shorter and shorter as the copy machine cuts off a little here and a little there. Eventually, the telomere is gone and the copy machine starts eating into the book itself, cutting out important words and phrases. The more words are lost, the more chance there is that the "book" will be misunderstood by the body...a situation which can cause all sorts of problems, among them cell death and the various disabilities we've come to anticipate with old age.

The Ambrosia project, to be blunt, seeks a cure for the ailments of old age, a cure for age itself, through the manipulation of these telomeres. We know that if we can encourage the production of new telomeres and the regeneration of telomeres worn down with age, chances are good that we will be able to halt or even reverse the side effects of aging! We will finally be in the position to answer the question "Death where is your victory?" with an affirmation of life lived well and long. And by long, ladies and gentlemen of the committee, I mean a life lived in full possession of health and vitality measured in centuries rather than decades.

The Ambrosia Project stands at the threshold of a new world, and the door is beginning to swing open. A few problems remain, a few obstacles block the path, but the way is clear. With your help, and the continued support of the GenTel team, I am confident that our product will be ready for market within the year. Thank you.

nice speech J, even if it's a bit heavy on the baby talk. Books? Copiers? I can see your house of cards, but the rest? Still, I'm sure they ate it right up and tossed you another grant or three...but you'll never see the problem, will you? You never learned that you can have to much of a good thing. Why do you think the test runs are failing at an accelerated rate? Each time they fail you up the dose, so to speak, but what happens when all you have left are blank pages? Maybe your copier isn't the only defective machinery here, to limp along with your crippled imagery...there's always the problem of disappearing ink, now isn't there? wishing you had seen it too, L.