The Only Chinese Team Makes Top 40 in XPRIZE Global Challenge— Prometheus Cell Team Wins Milestone Award with Its “Rejuvenation” Cell Technology
On May 12 (EST), the Prometheus Cell Team from China advanced to the Top 40 semifinalists in the prestigious XPRIZE Healthspan global competition, securing a coveted milestone award. As the only team from China to enter the semifinals, their success marks a significant step forward for the nation in addressing one of the world’s greatest scientific challenges: extending healthy human lifespan.
XPRIZE Healthspan: The World’s Most Influential Longevity Innovation Challenge
Launched by the internationally renowned XPRIZE Foundation, the Healthspan competition boasts a total prize pool of $101 million, making it the world’s largest and most impactful competition focused on healthy aging. The competition aims to inspire the development of breakthrough therapies capable of reversing aging and restoring physiological function—enabling people not only to live longer, but to live better.
Prometheus Cells: A Rejuvenation Technology Derived from Autologous Fibroblasts
At the heart of the Prometheus Cell Team’s innovation is a rejuvenation therapy based on reprogramming a person’s own skin fibroblasts. Using epigenetic reprogramming techniques, the team transforms autologous fibroblasts into a youthful, mesenchymal stem cell-like state—what they call “Prometheus Cells.” In both animal models and compassionate-use human cases, these cells have demonstrated significant anti-aging, immunomodulatory, and neuroprotective effects.
Prometheus Cells are highly bioactive, secreting key factors such as BDNF and PDGF. These factors enhance the immune environment, reduce chronic inflammation, and promote the repair of nerves, muscles, and tissues. In models of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and age-related degeneration, Prometheus Cells have shown promising efficacy in slowing neurodegeneration and repairing tissue damage.
Advancing to Semifinals: Recruiting Volunteers for Anti-Aging Trials
Having reached the semifinals of the XPRIZE Healthspan Challenge, the Prometheus Cell Team will now begin recruiting volunteers for clinical trials. These trials, designed with a self-controlled methodology, will assess the therapy’s effects on biomarkers such as epigenetic age (via DNA methylation), telomere length, CD8 T cells, muscle strength, and cognitive function—aiming to scientifically validate the ability of Prometheus Cells to extend healthspan.
Preliminary data is promising: trial participants receiving Prometheus Cells have shown a 1.2-fold increase in peripheral blood immune cell telomere length—equivalent to a reduction of about 10 years in immunological age—with no significant safety concerns observed, laying a strong foundation for clinical advancement.
A Global Team Bridging Basic Science, Clinical Research, and Commercialization
The Prometheus Cell Team is led by renowned regenerative medicine expert Dr. Yi Eve Sun. Formerly a tenured professor at UCLA, Dr. Sun currently serves as Executive Director of the National Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine International Collaboration Base, Deputy Director of the NMPA Key Laboratory for Cell and Gene Therapy Vector Technologies, and Executive Dean of the Shanghai Institute for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation.
With decades of research experience in neuroregeneration, aging mechanisms, and neuroimmune interactions, Dr. Sun has published over 130 papers in top-tier journals including Cell, Nature, and Science. She holds an H-index of 68 and has received numerous honors such as the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the Beckman Young Investigator Award, and the Shanghai International Collaboration Award.
Under Dr. Sun’s leadership, the Prometheus Cell Team spans the full spectrum from foundational research and clinical translation to industrial application.
Rooted in China, Reaching the World
With strong support from China’s national stem cell research infrastructure, the Prometheus Cell Team is bringing this homegrown rejuvenation technology to the global stage—ushering in a new chapter in the pursuit of healthy longevity.
Toward a New Era of Human Health: Redefining the Boundaries of Aging
Named after the mythological figure who brought fire to humanity, “Prometheus” symbolizes the gift of hope and progress. Today, the Prometheus Cell Team is igniting a new flame—one that lights the path toward longer, healthier lives for all.
As aging becomes a modifiable, even reversible, condition rather than an inevitable fate, we may be standing at the threshold of a new longevity civilization.