Presenter
Calen Ryan, Columbia University
Dr. Ryan is an Associate Research Scientist in the Columbia Aging Center Geroscience Core at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. His work sits at the intersection of evolutionary biology, medicine, and public health, integrating high-throughput epigenetic data with large, longitudinal datasets to explore the impact of reproduction, stress, and energy on biological aging. Dr. Ryan's research has received support from institutions such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. His work has also been featured in popular media outlets, including The Washington Post, CNN, the BBC, NBC, and Time Magazine.
Summary:
Geroscience has developed an arsenal of tools and interventions that can slow or even reverse biological aging in model organisms. Yet, the extent to which these interventions translate to humans is still unclear. A major obstacle to the testing geroprotective interventions in humans is the latency between treatment and conventional measures of biological aging. In this talk, I will discuss measures of biological aging, with a focus on epigenetic clocks derived from DNA methylation, and how these tools are changing the face of translational research on aging. I will highlight strengths and limitations of epigenetic clocks, and then explore their application in the first long-term, randomized controlled trial of caloric restriction in healthy non-obese humans.
Slides:
