October 9, 2024
How We Age: The Science of Longevity: Can We Stay Young Longer?
Coleen T. Murphy
Professor of Molecular Biology, Princeton University
Director, Laboratory for Aging Researc
How We Age: The Science of Longevity: Can We Stay Young Longer?
Coleen T. Murphy
Professor of Molecular Biology, Princeton University
Director, Laboratory for Aging Researc
Minutes of the Fifth Meeting of the 83rd Year
The meeting was called to order at 10:15 AM by President George Bustin, and a moment of silence was observed for the recent death of Old Guard Member Marvin Preston. The invocation was led by Francis Slade. President Bustin noted with pride that our fellow Old Guard member John Hopfield was recently awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
Eight guests were introduced: Irv Urken had two guests, Dr. Terri Haberman and Dr. Ellen Panzer; Patricia Taylor had as a guest Charlie Rebick; David Scott had two guests, Ellen and Albert Stark; Charles Clark had his son Scott Clark and his partner, Coleen Bakewell; and Scott McVay had his wife, Hella McVay, as his guest. The total attendance was 130. The minutes of the previous meeting were read by Ronald Schnur.
Henry Von Kohorn introduced Professor Coleen Murphy to speak on “How We Age: The Science of Longevity; Can We Stay Young Longer?” Dr. Murphy is a Professor in the Molecular Biology Department and the Director of the Laboratory for Aging Research at Princeton University. She has received several prestigious awards and has recently published the book How We Age, the topic of this talk.
The science of longevity, like all sciences, starts with observation. We all know that people die at differing ages and people remain healthy to differing ages, some robust at 80 and others a shadow of themselves at 65. Why some remain healthy while others don’t is what longevity science seeks to understand and eventually influence.
Studying aging in humans is very difficult. It isn't possible to correct for the variable that humans live in different environments, and research interventions in humans are forbidden. Professor Murphy and others in this field start with subjects much simpler than humans. Professor Murphy’s favorite is a 1mm long hermaphroditic worm, C. elegans. It has less than a thousand cells (humans have 30 trillion) and 302 neurons (humans have 100 billion). Thus it is a much simpler organism to study and understand, and interventions are permitted.
A truly spectacular characteristic of C. elegans is that a small change in its genetic makeup, a natural mutation called DAF-2, more than doubles both its life span, ~ 25 days to ~ 65 days, and its health span. Professor Murphy showed videos of a DAF-2 worm at 40 days swimming and looking like a normal C. elegans worm at 14 days, whereas all normal C. elegans worms are dead at 40 days. This is analogous to a human playing tennis at 150. About ¾ of the proteins in C. elegans are homologous to humans.
So, what is there in this mutation that so prolongs life- and healthspans? The mutation is still being studied, but what is already clear is that the DAF-2 worm’s insulin-signaling pathway has changed. This correlates with findings of unusual insulin-signaling in human centenarians. Also, mice and monkeys eating a greater than 30% reduced-calorie diet that affects their insulin system have extended life and health. There may be other effects in humans that are not as beneficial - it is still being studied.
Another interesting finding in C. elegans is that mating halves its lifespan. To show that it is not the mating act that reduces lifetime but some systemic effect, ablating the reproductive part of a worm’s germline indeed doubles its lifetime. This suggests reproducing and long-survival are in a particular balance in different species. And when a DAF-2 worm has its reproductive germline ablated, its life-and-health span increases to ~60 to ~180 days, six times as long as a normal worm and the equivalent of a 500-year human life span.
Human data on this is sparse, but one study showed “promiscuous” Chinese emperors lived significantly shorter lives than “normal” emperors, and another study that eunuchs lived significantly longer, ~14 years longer, than normal males.
More worm results: killing a worm’s sensory neurons extends its life. The reason for this is still being studied. Some non-worm related results: young mouse blood improves the health and cognition of old mice, as does young-to-old fecal transplants in fish as well as in mice. And of significance to some of us: transfusing blood from exercising mice to sedentary mice improves cognition in the sedentary mice.
The science of longevity is an exciting and vibrant science. Perhaps our great-grandchildren will be playing tennis at 100. When asked after her talk what she recommends for extended life and health, Professor Murphy said exercise and picking the right grandparents.
Respectfully submitted,
David Vilkomerson
Eight guests were introduced: Irv Urken had two guests, Dr. Terri Haberman and Dr. Ellen Panzer; Patricia Taylor had as a guest Charlie Rebick; David Scott had two guests, Ellen and Albert Stark; Charles Clark had his son Scott Clark and his partner, Coleen Bakewell; and Scott McVay had his wife, Hella McVay, as his guest. The total attendance was 130. The minutes of the previous meeting were read by Ronald Schnur.
Henry Von Kohorn introduced Professor Coleen Murphy to speak on “How We Age: The Science of Longevity; Can We Stay Young Longer?” Dr. Murphy is a Professor in the Molecular Biology Department and the Director of the Laboratory for Aging Research at Princeton University. She has received several prestigious awards and has recently published the book How We Age, the topic of this talk.
The science of longevity, like all sciences, starts with observation. We all know that people die at differing ages and people remain healthy to differing ages, some robust at 80 and others a shadow of themselves at 65. Why some remain healthy while others don’t is what longevity science seeks to understand and eventually influence.
Studying aging in humans is very difficult. It isn't possible to correct for the variable that humans live in different environments, and research interventions in humans are forbidden. Professor Murphy and others in this field start with subjects much simpler than humans. Professor Murphy’s favorite is a 1mm long hermaphroditic worm, C. elegans. It has less than a thousand cells (humans have 30 trillion) and 302 neurons (humans have 100 billion). Thus it is a much simpler organism to study and understand, and interventions are permitted.
A truly spectacular characteristic of C. elegans is that a small change in its genetic makeup, a natural mutation called DAF-2, more than doubles both its life span, ~ 25 days to ~ 65 days, and its health span. Professor Murphy showed videos of a DAF-2 worm at 40 days swimming and looking like a normal C. elegans worm at 14 days, whereas all normal C. elegans worms are dead at 40 days. This is analogous to a human playing tennis at 150. About ¾ of the proteins in C. elegans are homologous to humans.
So, what is there in this mutation that so prolongs life- and healthspans? The mutation is still being studied, but what is already clear is that the DAF-2 worm’s insulin-signaling pathway has changed. This correlates with findings of unusual insulin-signaling in human centenarians. Also, mice and monkeys eating a greater than 30% reduced-calorie diet that affects their insulin system have extended life and health. There may be other effects in humans that are not as beneficial - it is still being studied.
Another interesting finding in C. elegans is that mating halves its lifespan. To show that it is not the mating act that reduces lifetime but some systemic effect, ablating the reproductive part of a worm’s germline indeed doubles its lifetime. This suggests reproducing and long-survival are in a particular balance in different species. And when a DAF-2 worm has its reproductive germline ablated, its life-and-health span increases to ~60 to ~180 days, six times as long as a normal worm and the equivalent of a 500-year human life span.
Human data on this is sparse, but one study showed “promiscuous” Chinese emperors lived significantly shorter lives than “normal” emperors, and another study that eunuchs lived significantly longer, ~14 years longer, than normal males.
More worm results: killing a worm’s sensory neurons extends its life. The reason for this is still being studied. Some non-worm related results: young mouse blood improves the health and cognition of old mice, as does young-to-old fecal transplants in fish as well as in mice. And of significance to some of us: transfusing blood from exercising mice to sedentary mice improves cognition in the sedentary mice.
The science of longevity is an exciting and vibrant science. Perhaps our great-grandchildren will be playing tennis at 100. When asked after her talk what she recommends for extended life and health, Professor Murphy said exercise and picking the right grandparents.
Respectfully submitted,
David Vilkomerson