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Prof Dame Linda Partridge
Professorial Research Fellow
Genetics, Evolution & Environment
Div of Biosciences
- Joined UCL
- 1st May 2014
Research summary
The aim of our research is to discover genes and mechanisms that determine the rate of ageing. We collaborate with other laboratories to determine if these processes show evolutionary conservation, most of our work is conducted with the fruit fly Drosophila and through comparison with C. elegans and then with the mouse. Our work focuses particularly on the insulin/IGF-like signalling pathway, dietary restriction and resistance to stress. We are interested also in the physiological mechanisms that force organisms to make trade-offs, such as that between high nutrient intake and high reproductive rate, on one hand, and slow ageing on the other.
Teaching summary
I have lectured in population biology, genetics, evolution, general biology, animal behaviour, behavioural ecology, marine biology and quantitative biology on a variety of courses. I have frequently participated in graduate courses organised by the Nordic countries, Portugal, Canada and the US and have taught on the Molecular Biology of Aging course at Woods Hole each year.
I helped set up a cross-faculty course and intercalated year for medical students in Evolutionary Medicine, and helped to design a third year undergraduate course at UCL on the Biology of Ageing on which I also lecture.
I also teach on the graduate course in Ageing and Ageing-Related Disease for the Cologne Graduate School in Ageing Research.
Education
- University of Oxford
- Doctorate, Doctor of Philosophy | 1974
- University of Oxford
- First Degree, Bachelor of Arts | 1971
Biography
I work on the biology of ageing. My research is directed to understanding the mechanisms by which healthy lifespan can be extended in laboratory model organisms and humans. My work has focussed in particular on the role of nutrient-sensing pathways, such as the insulin/insulin-like growth factor signalling pathway, and on the role of diet, and her primary interest is in geroprotective drugs.
I was honoured with a DBE for Services to Science in 2009 and am a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences and a foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
I am the founding director of the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne, Germany and Biological Secretary at the Royal Society.