Laura Carstensen: The Purpose and Promise of Longer Lives

What do we really want from our healthcare system, and how can AI help us get it sooner? In our final episode of season two, Gordon talks with visionary systems biology expert Nathan Price about the emergence of scientific wellness, what we can learn from our digital twins, and how using AI to predict health outcomes can help us transform our understanding of aging and disease—potentially adding years of healthy life.Dr. Nathan Price is a distinguished scientist and leader in the field of healthy aging, holding dual roles as Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Human Healthspan at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and Chief Scientific Officer at Thorne. He co-authored the bestselling book The Age of Scientific Wellness with Dr. Lee Hood, and has an extensive publication record, including over 200 scientific papers and contributions to prominent media outlets. Recognized as one of the National Academy of Medicine's Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine in 2019, Dr. Price also serves on the Board on Life Sciences of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. His career includes significant positions such as CEO of Onegevity, a health AI company, and a decade-long tenure at the Institute for Systems Biology. Dr. Price's contributions to science and business have earned him numerous awards, including an NSF CAREER award and the Grace A. Goldsmith Award. He has also been elected a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and recognized as a Notable Leader in Healthcare by Crain's New York. His advisory roles span prestigious organizations like Roche, Providence St Joseph Health, and the American Cancer Society.Support the show

Few people have as much experience with patient care and long-term research as the celebrated geriatrician and epidemiologist Luigi Ferrucci. Listen in as he speaks with Gordon about his journey from acute care to population studies, the effective design of clinical trials, and moving towards predictive medicine so we can use our natural resilience to maintain health as we age.Dr. Luigi Ferrucci is a geriatrician and an epidemiologist who conducts research on the causal pathways leading to progressive physical and cognitive decline in older persons. In September 2002, he became the Chief of the Longitudinal Studies Section at NIA and the Director of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging. Dr. Ferrucci received a Medical Degree and Board Certification in 1980, a Board Certification in Geriatrics in 1982 and Ph.D. in Biology and Pathophysiology of Aging in 1998 at the University of Florence, Italy. Between 1985 and 2002 he was Chief of Geriatric Rehabilitation at the Department of Geriatric Medicine and Director of the Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology at the Italian National Institute of Aging. During the same period, he collaborated with the NIA Laboratory of Epidemiology, Demography, and Biometry where he spent several periods as Visiting Scientist at NIH. Dr. Ferrucci has made major contributions in the design of many epidemiological studies conducted in the U.S. and in Europe, including the AKEA study of Centenarians in Sardinia and the Women's Health and Aging Study. He was also the Principal Investigator of the InCHIANTI study, a longitudinal study conducted in the Chianti Geographical area (Tuscany, Italy) looking at risk factors for mobility disability in older persons. In 2002, Dr. Ferrucci refined the design of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging to focus on the Geroscience Hypothesis, which states the pace of biological aging is the root cause of many age-related chronic diseases, as well as physical and cognitive disability. He has made major contributions to the literature and is one of the most cited scientists in the field of aging. Dr. Ferrucci has been Scientific Director at NIA since May 2011.Support the show

The movement to integrate longevity treatments into clinical care is making strides. How can we ensure they are evidence-based, accessible, and personalized? World-renowned geroscientist Andrea Maier has been leading the way with innovative clinical trials and cutting edge research. In this episode, she talks with Gordon about the current state of the field, why we need a variety of clocks and interventions, what we can all do now to age better, and what the future of clinical practice looks like.Professor Andrea Maier is a prolific researcher in the field of geroscience — the intersection of aging biology, chronic disease, and health. A principal investigator in gerontology, as well as a specialist in internal medicine and geriatrics, Professor Maier's aging research focuses on age-related diseases, cellular senescence and the translation of results into clinical practice. She has published almost 400 peer-reviewed articles and has spearheaded significant contributions of her highly acclaimed innovative, global, multidisciplinary work with her @Age Research Group. Professor Maier holds professorship appointments at VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands and University of Melbourne, Australia. Professor Maier is the past President of the Australia and New Zealand Society for Sarcopenia and Frailty Research and founding president of the Healthy Longevity Medicine Society. She sits on several prestigious international academic and health policy committees and organizations, including national and international research funding agencies and the World Health Organization.Support the show

Our chronological age doesn’t tell us much about how well our bodies are aging, but scientists have developed many ways to measure changes at the cellular and molecular levels, including the rate of change, that can suggest ways to improve health at every stage of life. Follow along as Gordon speaks with Daniel Belsky of Columbia University about DNA methylation, the effects of famine and poverty on aging biology, studying the exposome, and how to create equitable access to potential aging interventions.Dr. Belsky is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center at Columbia University. His studies seek to understand how genes and environments combine to shape health across the life course. The goal of Dan's work is to reduce social inequalities in aging outcomes in the US and elsewhere. With collaborators Terrie Moffitt and Avshalom Caspi he originated the Pace of Aging method to quantify the aging process from longitudinal analysis of human physiology and recently translated this method into a DNA-methylation blood test that can be implemented from a single time point of data collection. He is principal investigator of NIH-funded projects to test how caloric restriction may slow or reverse aging-related changes to the genome (CALERIE), to understand long-term impacts of in-utero famine exposure on biological aging (Dutch Hunger Winter Family Study, with Bertie Lumey), and to test the potential of anti-poverty policy intervention to slow biological aging (MyGoals for Healthy Aging, with Peter Muennig). Dan's work has received international attention, including by the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Guardian newspapers, and appeared in outlets including PNAS, Nature Human Behaviour, Nature Aging, the JAMA journals, Lancet Respiratory Medicine, and top journals in epidemiology and gerontology. Since 2020, he has been named an ISI highly-cited researcher.Support the show

Of all the biochemical changes that occur with aging, what really matters? How can we use the incredible amount of health data available today to discover the best targets for interventions? In this episode, Kristen Fortney of BioAge talks with Gordon about the latest research in proteomics and metabolomics, the importance of muscle loss, and the challenge of measuring the right endpoints for effective treatment and regulatory approval.Kristen Fortney is the co-founder and CEO of BioAge, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a pipeline of treatments to extend healthy lifespan by targeting the molecular causes of aging. The company uses its discovery platform, which combines quantitative analysis of proprietary longitudinal human samples with detailed health records tracking individuals over the lifespan, to map out the key molecular pathways that impact healthy human longevity. By targeting these pathways with a large and mechanistically diverse portfolio of drugs, BioAge is unlocking opportunities to treat and prevent diseases of aging in entirely new ways. Kristen’s scientific background is in aging biology and bioinformatics. She received her PhD in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto, followed by postdoctoral training at Stanford University, where she was a fellow of the Ellison Medical Foundation & American Federation for Aging Research.Support the show

What is the relationship between diet, chronic disease, and aging? Can we delay or reverse the effects of aging at the cellular level by following a fasting-mimicking diet? Listen in as Gordon speaks with Valter Longo of the Longevity Institute at USC about epigenetic reprogramming, turning on Yamanaka factors, and restoring our cells to a youthful state based on over 30 years of research on diet and fasting.Dr. Valter Longo is the Edna M. Jones Professor of Gerontology and Biological Sciences and Director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California –Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, Los Angeles, one of the leading centers for research on aging and age-related disease. Dr. Longo is also the Director of the Longevity and Cancer Program at the IFOM Institute of Molecular Oncology in Milan, Italy. His studies focus on the fundamental mechanisms of aging in simple organisms and mice and on how these mechanisms can be translated to humans. The Longo laboratory recently published key findings on a 5 day periodic dietary intervention called Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD), and showed in randomized clinical trials that FMD reduces the risk factors and markers associated with aging and diseases. Dr. Longo’s most recent studies focus on the use of FMD interventions to activate stem cell- based regeneration to promote longevity. He is the author of The Longevity Diet.Support the show

Our modern world is full of potential disruptions to sleep. But as we learn more about circadian rhythm, we find that it influences everything from metabolism to mental health in different ways as we age. In this episode, Satchin Panda of the Salk Institute guides Gordon through the many interactions between sleep behavior and biology. Together they explore how new insights can help us improve our sleep health, and how researchers might target circadian rhythm to modulate the effects of aging.Satchin Panda, PhD, is a leading expert in the field of circadian rhythm research. He is a professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and a founding executive member of the Center for Circadian Biology at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Panda is a Pew Biomedical Scholar and a recipient of the Julie Martin Mid-Career Award in Aging Research. As a recognition of the impact of his work regarding circadian rhythms and diabetes, Dr. Panda has been invited to speak at conferences around the world, including Diabetes UK, the American Diabetes Association, the Danish Diabetes Association, and the respective professional diabetes societies of Europe and Australia. He is the author of The Circadian Code: Lose Weight, Supercharge Your Energy, and Transform Your Health from Morning to Midnight.Support the show

What is the goal of living longer? It’s not simply to celebrate a number, but to do something meaningful with that time. Renowned Stanford psychologist Laura Carstensen speaks with Gordon about the experience of aging, in the past and in the future, and why changes in culture must accompany changes in healthspan so we can flourish as a society.Laura L. Carstensen is Professor of Psychology at Stanford University where she is the Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr. Professor in Public Policy and founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. Her research on the theoretical and empirical study of motivational, cognitive, and emotional aspects of aging has been funded by the National Institute on Aging without interruption for more than 30 years. Carstensen is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She served on the MacArthur Foundation’s Research Network on an Aging Society and was a commissioner on the Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity.  Carstensen’s awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Kleemeier Award, The Richard Kalish Award for Innovative Research and distinguished mentor awards from both the Gerontological Society of America and the American Psychological Association. She is the author of A Long Bright Future: Happiness, Health, and Financial Security in an Age of Increased Longevity. Carstensen received her B.S. from the University of Rochester and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from West Virginia University. She holds an honorary doctorate from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.Support the show

We're back! In season one, we investigated the biology of aging in many different organisms to learn why and how we age. This season we'll take a close look at potential interventions that modify mechanisms of aging biology and may dramatically change the way we age in our lifetimes.Get ready for season two of the Buck's podcast We're not getting any younger... yet. with scientist Gordon Lithgow. Subscribe today!Support the show

Gordon and Stella revisit key concepts from the conversation with Arne Akbar, such as using sestrins to modulate T-cells and telomeres. Looking back over the course of season one, Stella and Gordon discuss the need to think about aging as an organizing principle, and how to deal with all the things we don't yet know.Stay tuned for season two!Support the show