So basically everyone is interested because they want to live forever... Thats a very selfish reason and one reason I think that this research will end up nowhere. Every time humanity has reached out to become like G-d something has struck back and landed us worse off than we were before. Do we really think Humans are made to live forever? Don't we understand why we were given the lifespan we were given? Don't we understand why the generations before Noah lived to be 500-800 years and that was taken from us?
I am all for scientific progress... But I am against meddling with the human being. We were created with a goal, and everyones lifespan is determined in heaven {On Yom Kippur}. A human, faced with immortality, will be a very immoral immortal being and I dread thinking of the implications.