Dr. Judith Campisi is a professor of biogerentology at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and a co-editor in chief of the Aging Journal.

As an expert on cellular senescence, the discussion involves a lot of talk about aging and cancer, where senescence plays a very important fundamental role. What are some of the strategies we might use in the future to prevent senescent cells? What causes them in the first place? 

In this episode, you’ll discover: 

• (00:00) Introduction
• (05:12) Fundamental molecular and cellular processes of aging
• (13:19) What is senescence and why did we evolve this cellular function? 
• (24:09) The difference between lifespan and healthspan
• (30:32) DNA damage and mitochondrial dysfunction promote senescence 
• (35:45) Prolonged fasting suppresses senescent cells and stimulates new cell growth
• (47:30) Exercise extends healthspan, partially by lengthening telomeres
• (54:03) Consumer tests for DNA damage and cellular senescence
• (59:58) NAD+ boosters, fasting mimetics, and aging in non-human animals

If you’re interested in learning more, you can read the full show notes here.

Join over 300,000 people and get the latest distilled information on cancer & aging straight to your inbox weekly: https://www.foundmyfitness.com/newsletter

Become a FoundMyFitness premium member to get access to exclusive episodes, emails, live Q+A’s with Rhonda and more: https://www.foundmyfitness.com/crowdsponsor

Dr. Gordon Lithgow of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging tells us about worms!

This unassuming scientific model has a lot of important advantages for science: they can be frozen and subsequently thawed and retain viability, they are extremely well understood down to the precise number of cells in their body and the wiring of their nervous system, known as the connectome. Additionally, they have a short lifespan and are cheap to work with. Why would that be advantageous, you may ask?

This is where Dr. Lithgow's work on the Caenorhabditis Intervention Testing Program comes in. Short-lived organisms give Dr. Lithgow and his colleagues the opportunity to see how their biology responds to compounds in different contexts and to do so cheaply and rapidly. Think a vitamin, pharmaceutical or one of any number of other compounds may have a broad effect on longevity? Try it on Caenorhabditis first! Taking this approach allows the broad screening of compounds that might not otherwise get its chance in the limelight if science were limited to only working with rodents, for example.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• (00:00) Introduction
• (03:30) What is C elegans and why do researchers use it?
• (06:43) Proteostasis and its involvement in aging
• (10:59) Shocking worms with heat extends their lifespan
• (16:40) Sauna use activates human heat-shock proteins, improving health
• (19:27) Excess dietary iron accelerates protein aggregation, promoting Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases
• (25:07) Vitamin D deficiency accelerates aging
• (35:19) Using worms to search for compounds that extend life in humans

If you’re interested in learning more, you can read the full show notes here.

Join over 300,000 people and get the latest distilled information straight to your inbox weekly: https://www.foundmyfitness.com/newsletter

Become a FoundMyFitness premium member to get access to exclusive episodes, emails, live Q+A’s with Rhonda and more: https://www.foundmyfitness.com/crowdsponsor