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I can relate with the feeling. However, I get a bit of a sick satisfaction knowing that those friends earning 70K/year after a business degree absolutely hated every waking minute of their undergrad. And now it appears that they hate their cushy jobs, too. At the very least, I can say with honesty that I greatly enjoyed my undergrad and continue to enjoy my graduate schooling. Of course, it goes without saying that I'm still holding out for a juicy scholarship to come my way...

I don't know if this it too late, but what exactly do you mean by program? I can think of two people that do research involving computational and experimental senescence and would probably be interested in grad students: Tom Sherratt at Carleton (Ottawa, Canada) and Rob Laird at University of Lethbridge (Lethbridge, Canada). However, the program would simply be biology, I think, not aging or senescence. So, you'd have to fulfill whatever requirements are necessary for a program in bio but would focus your research on aging.

I agree with everything said so far, especially the advice to put it away for a week and then go back to it. I'll add that I've personally found it effective to re-read a few of the key papers I've cited: either those that provided some basis for the study, or those that have served to support the findings. Helps me get a better handle on everything, and more often than not leads to some sweet, sweet, satisfying edits.

I would say that it isn't a big deal if others have done very related work before, especially if their data don't support their conclusions. The PhD doesn't necessarily have to be a novel contribution to the field; however, it should be significant. Depending on how you approach the research, re-interpreting new data in a manner more consistent with them could certainly be significant. Plus, if the data work out the way you think they will, you should be able to imagine the next course of action to take, either on your own or in discussion with lab members and your supervisor. Discuss this issue, and the other problems you mentioned, with your supervisor. Generally speaking, your success is his success, and he should be keenly aware of this already.