Lessons in longevity from the naked mole-rat

Listeners to the show might remember that last year we spoke to Dr. Vera Gorbunova from Rochester Aging Research Center at the University of Rochester about her work on SIRT6 - often referred to as the “longevity gene” because of its important role in organising proteins and recruiting enzymes that repair broken DNA.

Since then, she and her team have made significant progress in the study of longevity by successfully transferring a different gene from naked mole rats into mice, resulting in improved health and an extension of the mouse’s lifespan.

Jonathan is joined by Dr. Vera Gorbunova to discuss.