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Senior Scholar Awards in Aging 2002

Seymour Benzer, Ph.D.
California Institute of Technology
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,... (more)

Stanley N. Cohen, M.D.
Stanford University School of Medicine
Genetic Mechanisms Regulating Replicative Aging in Diffierentiated Human Cell Populations
2002 Senior Scholar Award in Aging

Normal human cells growing outside the body in culture media have a finite ability to reproduce. An internal “clock’ forces them eventually to stop dividing and enter an irreversible state of proliferative arrest termed “replicative senescence” (RS). There is evidence that RS represents aging at the cellular... (more)

Art Gafni, Ph.D.
University of Michigan
Single Molecule Studies of Age-Related Alterations in Heat Shock Factor 1
2002 Senior Scholar Award in Aging

A decline in the capacity of living organisms to respond vigorously to external stresses (elevated temperature, damaging radiation, reactive chemical agents, etc.) and to maintain homeostasis is a hallmark of aging and is largely responsible for the age-related increase in mortality. Young cells respond to... (more)


Cynthia J. Kenyon, Ph.D.
University of California - San Francisco
Can the Heat-Shock Response Extend the Lifespan of the Mouse?
2002 Senior Scholar Award in Aging

During the last decade, remarkable discoveries in the small roundworm C. elegans have shown that aging is regulated hormonally by a regulatory system similar to that of the human insulin and IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor) endocrine systems. This same endocrine system governs the aging process in fruit flies, and, recent... (more)

Stuart Kim, Ph.D.
Stanford University Medical Center
Genomic approaches to studying aging in C. elegans
2002 Senior Scholar Award in Aging

Aging is among the most universal of biological processes and perhaps also among the most mysterious. Numerous age-related changes are apparent at the organismic level, but we are only now starting to understand age-related changes at the molecular level. Oxidative damage, replicative senescence, accumulated stress and metabolic rate have... (more)

Gordon Lithgow, Ph.D.
Buck Institute for Age Research
The Rapid Identification of Hormones and Pharmacological Compounds that Slow Aging in C. elegans
2002 Senior Scholar Award in Aging

Hypothesis: Small molecule pharmacological agents, including synthetic hormones, that enhance stress response will slow aging and age-related functional decline.  

Much of the remarkable progress in the biology of aging has emerged from the lifespan extension paradigm in simple animal... (more)


James F. Nelson, Ph.D.
University of Texas Health Science Center - San Antonio
Rapid Screening for Longevity Mutants in Mice
2002 Senior Scholar Award in Aging

Mutational screens in C. elegans and D. melanogaster demonstrate that single gene mutations can extend life span. The phenotypes associated with these mutations include reduced insulin and/or insulin-like growth factor signaling and increased resistance to oxidative and other life-threatening stressors. Mammalian models of extended life... (more)

Daniel Promislow, Ph.D.
University of Georgia
Gene-gene interactions, gene networks and aging in natural population of Drosophila
2002 Senior Scholar Award in Aging

Most of what we know about the genetics of aging comes from four organisms well-adapted to life in the lab--yeast, nematodes, fruit flies and mice. These are powerful model systems, but not without problems. Previous studies have shown that organisms maintained in the lab often evolve increased early fecundity and... (more)

Rudolph E. Tanzi, Ph.D.
Massachusetts General Hospital
Role of the multiligand receptor, LRP. In Alzheimer’s disease-related neuropathogenesis: A model for age-related disorders involving LRP
2002 Senior Scholar Award in Aging

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia in the elderly afflicting over 20 million people worldwide. Overwhelming neuropathological and genetic data support the abnormal accumulation and deposition of a small protein called the Amore)

Woodring E. Wright, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Functional Tests of Replicative Aging in Organotypic Skin Equivalents
2002 Senior Scholar Award in Aging

One of the major functions of cellular senescence is to serve as a brake against malignancy. At least 3-6 mutations are required to form a tumor. Each mutation probably requires 20-30 doublings for the initial mutation, elimination of the remaining wild-type allele (for recessive tumor suppressor genes) and... (more)