David PerlmutterPresident,, Perlmutter Health Center · Board-Certified Neurologist | Functional Medicine Pioneer | #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author | International Speaker | Host of The Empowering Neurologist Podcast

The World’s First GMO Human

20 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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In this interview segment, David Perlmutter asks the pioneering subject about his mental state on the day he entered a clinic to undergo what is billed as the world’s first full-body human genetic modification. The interviewee reflects that popular imagination frames such a moment as heroic—"putting on capes" to save the world—but the reality was dominated by uncertainty. He notes that telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) had never before been administered to a human as a whole-body experiment, leaving the outcome and his survival unknown. The exchange highlights the contrast between public perception of gene editing as a bold, almost mythic act and the cautious, risk‑laden mindset of the individual undergoing the procedure.

I'm saying, what were you actually thinking when you went to the clinic and the day is— here's the day where you're going to become the first GMO human?
Well, I think that, like, probably how people depict that in their mind is like, you know, we're putting on our capes and we're thinking we're going to save the world. But actually, you know, there's a lot going through everyone's mind because telomerase reverse transcriptase had not been used in a human. Not especially as a full-body experiment. So we didn't know for sure that I would live.