What inspired you to pursue aging research?
I was inspired to pursue aging research upon realizing that several disease-associated processes we study in the context of brain neurodegenerative diseases are also present in normal aging. Thus my group’s work will have therapeutic implications across many neurodegenerative disease contexts if we can achieve the cellular rejuvenation of normal aging neurons.
In your view, what does AFAR mean to the field, and what does it mean, for you, to receive an AFAR grant now?
AFAR is the leading funder of new and innovative scientific research in the aging field. AFAR’s mission in this area is of great importance, since elucidating aging mechanisms at the basic scientific level will lead the way to tremendous advances in the treatment of innumerable age-associated diseases. Receiving an AFAR grant now has enabled work at a crucial early stage in my research group.
What is exciting about your research’s potential impact?
Our project promises to move forward our understanding of aging by elucidating the basis of the exceptional longevity of nerve cells in our brain, which can live over 90 years, in an unbiased manner using cutting-edge approaches. We expect that results from our study will be applicable not only to the field of brain aging, but also reveal novel therapeutic approaches to promote cellular rejuvenation more broadly.
How would you describe your research to a non-scientist?
The mechanisms that underlie the exceptional longevity of nerve cells in our brain (>90 years) remain unclear. If they were understood, however, they could be targeted to restore nerve cell function in the context of aging and neurodegeneration, and they could also potentially be induced in other cell types of the body to increase the healthspan of the whole organism. In this project we purpose to conduct a rigorous and unbiased testing in the mammalian nervous system of genes that we predict to be able to restore aging-associated decline in nerve cells.
