Advisory / Kurzweil Agrees to Match Winning Bid As Life Extension Auction Nears Its Close; Author, Inventor, and Visionary Will Host Lunch for Tonight's Auction Winner.

LORTON, Va. and CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Methuselah Foundation announced today that Ray Kurzweil, in a surprise and extraordinarily generous move, agreed to match the winning bid in the "Lunch of a Lifetime" eBay auction at: http://www.mprize.org/auction which ends tonight. The auction is for up to 6 people to join the world-renowned futurist and inventor in Boston for a special life extension lunch and conversation. The auction ends overnight at 3:00 AM EDT.

All proceeds from the auction will be added to the Mprize's funding which currently stands at $1,439,552. The Mprize - modeled after the fabulously successful Ansari X Prize - is designed to incite the engineered reversal of the frailty and diseases of human aging within the lifetime of the baby boomers and subsequent generations. Dr. Kurzweil has agreed to match the winning bid up to $4,000. If the winning bidder is, or wishes to become, a member of the Mprize Three Hundred, the entire bid amount will be applied to their $1,000 annual commitment.

Dr. Ray Kurzweil is the recipient of the U.S. National Medal of Technology and author of numerous books including "Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever" and "The Age of Spiritual Machines". Kurzweil's latest book, coauthored with longevity expert Terry Grossman, M.D., shows how human beings can use behavior, diet, and lifestyle to remain in good health long enough to benefit from the emerging biotechnology and nanotechnology revolutions, thus enabling us to live indefinitely. The auctioned lunch will be prepared by Methuselah volunteers and comply with the dietary guidelines outlined in the new book.

"The MPrize - in the spirit of the fabulously successful X Prize - is a powerful vehicle for mobilizing the scientific community to eliminate the degeneration associated with aging," said Dr. Kurzweil. "In addition to my earlier donation, this is a fun way to support a cause I believe in - helping people live longer, healthier lives. I look forward to sharing an afternoon of food and conversation with others who are similarly committed."

Many charities have used celebrity auctions as powerful fundraising tools. For this auction, bidders can combine their resources and bid in groups of up to six, all of whom will be invited to the lunch. All proceeds from the auction will go directly into the MPrize fund.

Additionally, those who do not win the auction but elect to join the Mprize Three Hundred - the MPrize's list of givers who commit $1,000 per year for 25 years - will receive an autographed copy of Kurzweil's and Grossman's new book, Fantastic Voyage.

About the MPrize

The Methuselah Mouse Prize (www.mprize.org) is the premiere effort of the Methuselah Foundation and is being offered to the scientific research team who develops the longest living Mus musculus, the breed of mouse most commonly used in scientific research. Developing interventions which work in mice are a critical precursor to the development of human anti-aging techniques, for once aging in mice can be effectively delayed or reversed, popular attitudes towards aging as 'inevitable' will be forced to change. When aging in mice is shown to be treatable, the funding necessary for a full-line assault on the aging process will become available. This is the power and hope of the Methuselah Mouse Prize: to demonstrate a proof of principle and show the world that decline in function and age-related disease are no longer inevitable for humanity.