Word: ruvkun
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Gary Ruvkun, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, used a promising new technique to identify about 417 genes in the roundworm’s genetic code related to fat production and storage...
...someone told me we’d be using this kind of protocol even three years ago, I’d have said that’s crazy—don’t think about it,” Ruvkun said...
...Ruvkun and his team discovered which genes were related to obesity by engineering the worms’ food to include substances that deactivated a particular gene...
...instead, in the worm--and, Ruvkun suggests, perhaps in people as well--aging seems to be regulated by the brain. Ruvkun says this makes sense, as the entire body ages at the same rate, which might not be possible if aging were not regulated centrally...
...Ruvkun believes that the interaction between insulin and "free radicals" may explain its powerful effect on aging. Too many of these dangerous by-products of cellular metabolism can be lethal for an animal, but insulin can cause cells to stop producing enzymes which scavenge free radicals. If this process is turned off, he speculates, animals may live longer because they continue to eliminate free radicals...