Daniel Promislow
Tufts University, MA·Biology
Two people of the same age can age at very different rates. Biological clocks aim to measure this hidden 'biological age' and predict health and lifespan.
- Fields
Biology
Genetics
Ecology & Evolution
- Topics
aging
geroscience
metabolomics
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2029
What they work on
- Develop sex- and tissue-specific metabolome clocks in Drosophila, along with the first longitudinal clock that follows the same flies' metabolite levels over time.
- Dissect how the metabolites that drive the fly metabolome clock affect aging, using dietary and genetic interventions.
- Test whether the metabolome clock can serve as a stand-in biomarker to screen geroprotective drugs, compounds that may slow aging, in flies.
- Test whether early-life metabolome profiles predict random, non-genetic variation in fly lifespan, and whether and how this variation is passed to offspring.
More about the research
The most popular clocks rely on DNA methylation, chemical tags on DNA. They work well, but it is hard to tell why. Many of their parts differ between species, and they cannot be studied in insects, which have little or none of this DNA tagging. This research builds a different kind of clock. It is based on the metabolome, the full set of small molecules such as sugars, fats and amino acids that act as the cell's building blocks and fuel. Because these molecules and their pathways are shared across species, metabolome clocks can be studied in fruit flies (Drosophila), where experiments are fast and many genetic tools are available.
Why it matters
Reliable biomarkers of aging could help predict, diagnose and eventually prevent age-related diseases. Metabolites and their pathways are shared across species. That shared biology means findings from fly metabolome clocks could eventually support clocks that improve prognosis and treatment of aging-related disease in people. The clock may also offer a faster way to screen candidate anti-aging drugs.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Willard Freeman
University of Oklahoma-Health Sciences Center, OK·Genetics
Perform quantitatively precise analyses of DNA modifications, methylation and hydroxymethylation, from genome-wide to gene-specific scale for aging studies, including whole-genome epigenomic profiling by nanopore sequencing.
Mark Phillips
Oregon State University, OR·Ecology & Evolution
Identify factors that drive differences in rates of senescence, or biological aging, by applying metabolomic profiling and 3D electron microscopy to fruit fly populations evolved with very different lifespans and life histories.
Stephanie Tuminello
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY·Public Health & Epidemiology
Test whether World Trade Center exposure accelerates biological aging in male responders, comparing blood DNA methylation clocks such as Horvath, GrimAge and DunedinPACE with unexposed men from the general population.
The school
Tufts University: 19 labs on PI Pages, $278M a year on research, 144 research doctorates a year.
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