In this lecture, BioTime CEO and Geron founder Dr. Michael West discusses regenerative medicine and its application to age-related disease with a specific focus on the role of telomeres. Dr. West begins by describing the dichotomy of the germline and soma: the human species is essentially immortal in spite of the fact that each individual ages. He introduces the fact that telomeres play a critical role in the ability of the germline to remain youthful indefinitely before exploring the therapeutic promise of telomerase and embryonic stem cells. Although he notes the specific challenges that arise from the use of stem cells, he demonstrates how BioTime has already managed to overcome some of these challenges using its technologies. Dr. West concludes by explaining the cloning process and giving significant insight into how regenerative medicine can be used to treat or cure the diseases of aging.