Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Aging of multicellular eukaryotic organisms, including humans, affects numerous processes within cells. Some of these processes damage cellular macromolecules and organelles, while the others prevent the collapse of cellular homeostasis by repairing the damage. A lifelong accumulation of unrepaired cellular damage causes the progressive decline in the ability of the organism to resist stress, damage and disease, thereby increasing a risk of death. A challenge is to understand how the spatiotemporal organization of damage-producing and damage-repairing processes influences longevity and how cells integrate and control these processes. The baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a unicellular eukaryote, is a valuable model for unveiling the complexity of the aging process in multicellular eukaryotes. Our recent studies have identified several small molecules that significantly delay aging in yeast. We found that these novel anti-aging compounds have several beneficial effects in human cells by delaying processes that promote aging and age-related disorders. Here, I propose a series of experiments that will test how these novel compounds delay aging by influencing the nutritional status of yeast cells, their response to the excess or limitation of nutrients, and their metabolism under various nutritional conditions. Because the anti-aging compounds that I will be using in my study as a research tool for elucidating the mechanisms of aging in yeast also delay the pace of age-related malfunction of human cells, my study is expected to provide the knowledge that is fundamental to understanding the molecular defects underlying numerous disorders of aging, including neurodegenerative diseases, atherosclerosis, chronic inflammation and type 2 diabetes. Therefore, my study is expected to facilitate the development of future therapeutic approaches to the treatment of these disorders and extending human healthspan.