Cynthia Kenyon
Cynthia Kenyon
Cynthia Jane Kenyonis an American molecular biologist and biogerontologist known for her genetic dissection of aging in a widely used model organism, the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
CountryUnited States of America
careers two healthy
You could have two completely different careers if you could stay healthy to 90. How fascinating that would be.
numbers risk age
Age is the single largest risk factor for an enormous number of diseases. So if you can essentially postpone aging, then you can have beneficial effects on a whole wide range of disease.
long normal mutants
If I were a worm, I would rather be the long-lived mutant than the normal worm, that's for sure.
made escalators
It was like stepping on to an escalator; I could do anything. I was just made for science.
use way aging
If the aging process is controlled in a similar way in worms and humans, then we can use what we learn about worms to speed our study of higher organisms.
normal mutation worms
In the early '90s, we discovered mutations that could double the normal life span of worms.
ideas unexpected ageing
The idea that ageing was subject to control was completely unexpected.
age biggest factor gives huge likely meaning preventive tumor
Age is the biggest risk factor for many diseases. You're 100 times more likely to get a tumor at age 65 than age 35. It makes a huge difference. It gives a whole new meaning to preventive medicine.
change mutant worms
With worms you can just change genes at random and see if you can find a mutant that does what you want it to do.
change double gene human life possible rule
It's possible that we could change a human gene and double our life span. I don't know if that's true, but we can't rule that out.
human imagining
It's like, say, if you were a dog. You notice that you're getting old, and you look at your human and you think, 'Why isn't this human getting old?'... But now we're the human looking out and imagining a different human.
fewer good healthy life living longer might sick turn
Just living longer and being sick is the worst. But the idea that you could have fewer diseases, and just have a healthy life and then turn out the lights, that's a good vision to have. And I think what we know about some of these pathways suggests that might be possible.
genes life organisms perhaps regulate run speeds universal
Perhaps genes did regulate the aging process. Perhaps different organisms had different life spans because a universal regulatory 'clock' was set to run at different speeds in different species.
fascinated
The public is absolutely fascinated by aging. They don't want to get old. And you can see - read Shakespeare. Read the sonnets. They're all about aging.