For thousands of years, humankind has longed for immortality, dreaming of elixirs and ambrosias that would cure illness and prolong life.

Zhou Qi, a developmental biologist with the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has spent nearly three decades attempting to make that dream a reality.

He has pursued this dream through the study of animal cloning for regeneration, and by using stem cells to repair failing organs and tissue.