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Friday Evening Lecture Series
08/08/08 - Distinguished Alumni Lecture
"Delaying the Degenerative Diseases of Aging"
Bruce N. Ames, University of California, Berkeley
Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute
Introduction by Gary Ruvkun, Harvard Medical School; co-director MBL Molecular Biology of Aging Course
Lecture Abstract:
Mitochondrial decay with age (e.g. increase in oxidant by-products) causes oxidative damage to DNA, RNA, proteins, and lipids and is a major contributor to aging and associated degenerative diseases. Feeding the mitochondrial metabolites acetyl carnitine and lipoic acid to old rats rejuvenates mitochondria and improves brain and other function.
The degenerative diseases accompanying aging might also be delayed by another intervention. About 40 essential micronutrients (minerals, vitamins, amino acids and fatty acids) are required for metabolism. Micronutrient inadequacy is widespread in the U.S. population (especially in the poor, children, the obese, and the elderly) because of high consumption of calorie-rich micronutrient-poor unbalanced diets. Most of the world’s population, particularly the poor, has inadequate intake of one or more micronutrients. My triage theory explains why the pathology is insidious. When a micronutrient is inadequate, nature selects for a rebalancing of metabolism, that ensures survival of the organism at the expense of metabolism whose lack has only longer term consequences. I propose that during evolution micronutrient shortages were very common. Some consequences of this triage are DNA damage (future cancer), adaptive immune dysfunction (future severe infection), and mitochondrial decay (future cognitive dysfunction). Much evidence supports this idea that micronutrient shortages accelerate aging.
Bruce N. Ames is a senior scientist at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute in Oakland, California and professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1968. Dr. Ames has authored more than 500 publications and is among the top few hundred most-cited scientists in all fields.
Dr. Ames earned a B.A. in Chemistry/Biochemistry from Cornell University, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from California Institute of Technology, and is an alumnus of the 1951 MBL Physiology course. Between 1953 and 1954, he took a postdoctoral position at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with Dr. Bernard Horecker, famous for describing the pentose phosphate pathway. Dr. Ames continued at the NIH until 1967, first as a biochemist, then as section chief of Microbial Genetics at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of the National Institute of Arthritic and Metabolic Diseases.
Dr. Ames’ professional activities include a National Academy of Sciences membership, a seat on the board of directors of the National Cancer Institute, and, from 1976 to 1982, a seat on the National Cancer Advisory Board.
Dr. Ames has won numerous awards including the American Society for Microbiology Lifetime Achievement Award, the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal, the Linus Pauling Institute Prize for Health Research, the U.S. National Medal of Science, the Medal of the City of Paris, and the Japan Prize.
Gary Ruvkun will introduce Dr. Ames. Dr. Ruvkun is co-director of the MBL’s Molecular Biology of Aging Course and a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School. His research on the nematode worm, C. elegans, led to numerous discoveries in the fields of microRNA, RNA interference, and longevity.
Dr. Ruvkun received an A.B. in biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley in and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University. He joined the staff of Harvard Medical School in 1985.
In addition to his research, Dr. Ruvkun is editor of the journal Developmental Biology and was on the National Institutes of Health Advisory Council on Aging between 2004 and 2007.
Among Dr. Ruvkun’s numerous honors include an NIH Merit Award, a Benjamin Franklin Medal, a Warren Triennial Prize and, most recently, a Gairdner International Prize. He gave the 2003 Presidential Lecture at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting as well as the 2003 NIH Director's Lecture.
MBL Distinguished Alumni Lecture
MBL Alumni are often leaders in their fields and hold positions at every major research institution in the world. We are proud their contributions to science and grateful for the enrichment they bring to the MBL by referring students to our courses, returning as faculty or investigators themselves, serving on volunteer boards, and giving their financial support.
In recognition of the vital role MBL alumni play in the life sciences and in our institution, we are pleased to present the Distinguished Alumni Friday Evening Lecture.
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