Dr. Bruce Hay
Mitochondrial DNA quality control and aging: promoting selective removal of mutant mitochondrial genomes
2012 senior Scholar Award in aging
Mitochondrial DNA quality control and aging: promoting selective removal of mutant mitochondrial genomes Mitochondria are present in almost all cells, and contain many copies of a small, circular genome (mtDNA). The encoded gene products are all required, directly or indirectly, for oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), the primary mechanism of... more >> |
Dr. Peter Dervan
Small Molecule Inhibition of NF kappa B Mediated Activity in the Aging Cell
2009 senior Scholar Award in aging
The aging process is attributed to a complex combination of programmed changes in gene expression and genomic instability caused by accumulated DNA damage. The molecular mechanisms that underlie these age-associated changes have been the subject of intense research and recent studies have identified the NF-kappaÎ’ transcription factor as a key... more >> |
Dr. David Baltimore
Role of MicroRNAs in Aging
2008 senior Scholar Award in aging
The aging process is a subtle one, involving small continual changes in the body that generally lead to compromised function. The structure and function of the human body is controlled by the genes resident in our inherited DNA. Aging clearly involves changes in which genes are active. Up to recently it was expected that changes in gene activity... more >> |
Dr. Jacqueline K. Barton
DNA-mediated Oxidation of p53: Long Range Signaling of Oxidative Stress
2008 senior Scholar Award in aging
Oxidative stress has been implicated in the aging process and in the development of many age-related diseases including cancer. My laboratory has focused on studies of a critical consequence of oxidative stress: oxidative damage to DNA. When DNA is oxidized and not properly repaired, mutations and cancerous transformation result.
In my... more >> |
Dr. Judith L. Campbell
The Intersection of a Global Genome Integrity Network with Telomere Functions in Yeast and Human Cells
2008 senior Scholar Award in aging
We have studied the role of genomic instability in the determination of lifespan in yeast as a model for replicative senescence in human cells. We recently defined a genetic network of 322 genes and 826 interactions that preserve genome stability during DNA replication. This network suggests that damage due to defects in DNA replication and to... more >> |
Dr. David C. Chan
Does Mitochondrial Fusion Protect Against Mitochondrial DNA Mutations During Aging?
2006 senior Scholar Award in aging
A major model of aging postulates that DNA mutations accumulate within mitochondria as we age. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is particularly vulnerable, because mitochondria are a major source of reactive oxygen species, small molecules that can damage DNA. This damage causes mtDNA mutations, whose accumulation leads to inefficient mitochondrial... more >> |
Dr. William G. Dunphy
Checkpoint Mediator Proteins as Both Negative and Positive Regulators of Cellular Senescence
2005 senior Scholar Award in aging
It is well established that normal animal cells typically cannot divide in tissue culture indefinitely. Instead, cells that have completed a large number of divisions undergo replicative senescence, a process whereby the duplication of cellular chromosomal DNA comes to an end. The onset of replicative senescence in tissue culture cells has... more >> |
Dr. Harry B. Gray
Misfolding and Aggregation of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Polypeptides
2004 senior Scholar Award in aging
Approximately 10% of individuals over age 65, and nearly half of those over age 85, suffer from Alzheimer's disease. Parkinson's afflicts 1% of people over age 60 and the risk of contracting the disease increases with age. Currently, approximately 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's, and more than 1 million suffer from Parkinson's. These... more >> |
Dr. Alexander Varshavsky
Lifespan Extension: Overexpression Strategies in the Mouse and Yeast
2004 senior Scholar Award in aging
The work by my laboratory at the California Institute of Technology is about understanding bits and pieces of the following large problem: how and why cells destroy their own proteins? A related problem is to understand the consequences of having protein destruction machines in every cell of the body for the emergence of specific diseases,... more >> |
Dr. Seymour Benzer
Mitochondrial swirls, a link between oxidative stress and aging in Drosophila
2002 senior Scholar Award in aging
One of the characteristics of aging is progressive deterioration of muscle function. We will study this phenomenon using the fruit fly, Drosophila, as a model organism. Drosophila flight muscle is among the most metabolically active tissues in any organism. Its mitochondria, the source of energy production, are packed in columns,... more >> |
Dr. Giuseppe Attardi
Aging-dependent Large Accumulation of Mutations at Specific Sites in Human Mitochondrial DNA Control Region
2000 senior Scholar Award in aging
Recently, the use of a novel approach for specific detection of heteroplasmic mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has surprisingly revealed high copy point mutations (present in up to 50% of mtDNA) at specific positions in the control region of human fibroblast mtDNA from normal old, but not young individuals. Furthermore, longitudinal... more >> |
Dr. Seymour Benzer
Life extension genes in Drosophila
1998 senior Scholar Award in aging
Animals with longer lifespan usually have higher resistance to stress. The extended-lifespan Drosophila mutant methuselah resists all three different stresses tested, heat, starvation,
and paraquat, an oxygen free radical generator. This suggests a
molecular approach to identifying genes which are up-regulated by all three stresses... more >> |
Dr. Long Cai
Studying Aging in single yeast cells by super-resolution microscopy
2012 new Scholar Award in aging
The budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is a simple yet powerful eukaryotic model organism for aging research. A typical yeast cell replicates through budding of a daughter cell and can undergo 20-30 such replication events before senescence. While the life span of the mother cells decreases with each replication, the life span of... more >> |
Dr. Alexei Aravin
The role of small RNAs in protecting genome integrity
2010 new Scholar Award in aging
Aging is a complex process, associated with many changes on different levels from single molecules to hormonal regulation of the whole organism. One mechanism believed to be central to the aging of cells and tissues is cumulative damage to cellular macromolecules, such as proteins, lipids and DNA. Of these, DNA damage has been most intimately... more >> |
Dr. Katalin Fejes Toth
A systems biology approach to aging: Dissecting changes in gene expression during cellular senescence
2010 new Scholar Award in aging
Aging is a biological process common to almost all eukaryotes. It is characterized by the declining ability to respond to stress, homeostatic imbalance and increased risk of disease. On the cellular level, the process of aging manifests itself in senescence, the permanent loss of ability to divide. Both aging and senescence are accompanied by... more >> |
Dr. Andrew Steele
SIRT1 in the neurobiology of calorie restriction
2009 new Scholar Award in aging
Consumption of food and water is a daily task that we often take for granted. Signals of hunger, satiety, thirst, and energy requirements are constantly being integrated and balanced in our bodies to maintain homeostasis. How do we regulate how much to eat? How are our actions determined by our nutritional status? How does our food intake regulate... more >> |
Dr. Chin-Lin Guo
The Non-Autonomous Effect of Senescence on Tumorigenesis
2007 new Scholar Award in aging
The human body is marked by interactions among individual cells, especially between neighboring cells. In young and healthy tissue, neighboring cells modify their internal structure and adhere to each other. This often leads to a collective change of cell morphology. Cell morphological change can regulate the partition of intracellular... more >> |
Dr. Bruce Hay
Apoptosis
1998 new Scholar Award in aging
Apoptosis is a genetically regulated form of cell death which is critical for the normal development and adult function of multicellular organisms. Inappropriate activation of apoptosis also contributes to the neuronal cell loss associated with acute brain injuries such as stroke, and in age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer'... more >> |
The Ellison Medical Foundation