A Time magazine report from February featured Matt R. Kaeberlein, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Washington and recipient of a 2007 Glenn/AFAR Breakthroughs in Gerontology (BIG) Award. Dr. Kaeberlein recently discovered of a group of genes that affects the longevity of roundworms: his lab found that through activation of the hypoxic response, a biological defense against low-oxygen environments, ringworms’ lives were significantly extended. They engineered the worms to have the response “turned on” at all times, even when there was plenty of oxygen, and the result was not only a longer life, but a healthy one, too. It’s not clear yet whether this will work on mammals, but Dr. Kaeberlein believes the response may enhance resistance to stress in some way.
