#035 Gordon Lithgow, Ph.D. on Protein Aggregation, Iron Overload & the Search for Longevity Compounds

Alzheimer Prevention Discussion

That's what sort of hooked me into this, you know, basically the field of aging was looking at these worms where you can get rid of their IGF-1, you know, growth signaling pathway and literally...

"And people are just kind of amazed to see down the microscope a worm that's crawling around and behaving normally when it shouldn't be, when it should be dead. Totally."

Protein Aggregation Discussion

That's what sort of hooked me into this, you know, basically the field of aging was looking at these worms where you can get rid of their IGF-1, you know, growth signaling pathway and literally...

"And people are just kind of amazed to see down the microscope a worm that's crawling around and behaving normally when it shouldn't be, when it should be dead. Totally."

Extended Fasting Discussion

There's evidence, for example, in Alzheimer's disease that there's a metabolic problem that that happens before you start seeing aggregation of proteins so who knows how all these things interact with each other but but...

"There's evidence, for example, in Alzheimer's disease that there's a metabolic problem that that happens before you start seeing aggregation of proteins so who knows how all these things interact..."

Autophagy: Fasting

There's evidence, for example, in Alzheimer's disease that there's a metabolic problem that that happens before you start seeing aggregation of proteins so who knows how all these things interact with each other but but...

"There's evidence, for example, in Alzheimer's disease that there's a metabolic problem that that happens before you start seeing aggregation of proteins so who knows how all these things interact..."

Sauna: Heat Shock

There's evidence, for example, in Alzheimer's disease that there's a metabolic problem that that happens before you start seeing aggregation of proteins so who knows how all these things interact with each other but but...

"And I actually think that's what we're doing with a lot of the chemical compounds that we discover extend lifespan, is that they are either hitting pathways that regulate stress responses, or they..."

Alzheimer Prevention: Prevention

I think some of the chemical compounds that we discover that extend lifespan are actually doing this. They're harnessing the endogenous stress responses.

"And I actually think that's what we're doing with a lot of the chemical compounds that we discover extend lifespan, is that they are either hitting pathways that regulate stress responses, or they..."

Vitamin D: Blood Level

You know, iron is something that I don't, I think, you know, people should get their iron levels measured. They shouldn't just be blindly taking an iron supplement.

"Very cool. Well, I have a thousand questions about that. So, I mean, obviously, the question you probably get from every single person that you talk to about this research, and that is Thank you. working on it. Very cool."

Longevity: How To

Personalized medicine sort of interaction between genes and compounds. There's lots of interactions between drug metabolism and the way we metabolize drugs and the genes that we have.

"Personalized medicine sort of interaction between genes and compounds. There's lots of interactions between drug metabolism and the way we metabolize drugs and the genes that we have. So that's what actually makes sense."

Sulforaphane: Cancer

How do you do that in worms? Well, that's a big debate right now as to how to do that.

"Well, that's a big debate right now as to how to do that. Of course, the worms are changing their behaviors as they age. They're becoming slower. They're eating less. They cease reproduction."