Understanding the biology of longevity and ageing using a nematode model
The nature of the biological mechanisms at the heart of the ageing process is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in science. An ideal model organism in which to study ageing is the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. This species has well-developed genetics, its ~100 million base pair genome is fully sequenced, and its life span is a mere 2-3 weeks. Importantly, numerous mutations have been identified in C. elegans which alter the rate of ageing, with some mutants living up to 10-times longer than wild-type worms. By understanding ageing in a simple animal like C. elegans we hope to begin to unravel the mystery of human ageing, and the wide range of diseases that it causes, from cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes, to Alzheimer's disease and cancer.

A focus of current work in this laboratory is understanding the biological mechanisms that cause pathologies of ageing, and how such pathologies lead to mortality; and how reduced insulin/IGF-1 signalling and dietary restriction suppress ageing and increase lifespan. Other interests include the mechanisms of organismal death, sex differences in the biology of ageing, the role of the microbiome in ageing, evolutionary conservation of mechanisms of ageing, and bioethical implications of ageing research. Our work is largely funded by the European Union and the Wellcome Trust.

Research Team

Evgeniy Galimov, Postdoc, email: e.galimov@ucl.ac.uk
David Gems (PI), Professor of Biogerontology, email: david.gems@ucl.ac.uk
Kiyana Godazandeh, Project student, email: kiyana.godazandeh.16@ucl.ac.uk
Faria Athar, M.Res. student, email: faria.athar.18@ucl.ac.uk
Carina Kern, Graduate student, email: carina.kern.16@ucl.ac.uk
Jennifer Lohr, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, email: jen.lohr@gmail.com
Thanet Sornda, Graduate student, email: thanet.sornda.13@ucl.ac.uk
Shivangi Srivastava, M.Sc. student, email: shivangi.srivastava.18@ucl.ac.uk
Victoria Tse, M.Sci. student, email: victoria.tse.15@ucl.ac.uk
Yuan Zhao, Postdoc, email: yuan.zhao.08@ucl.ac.uk
Undergraduate assistants, Thea Berchtold, Nancy Hui, Dominik Maczik, Ioan Marcu, Alex Salomao, Bruce Zhang

2018: Four new studies, in Cell Reports (rated exceptional by F1000), NPJ Aging and Mechanisms of Disease, Aging, and Current Biology. For details see: publication list

Short film about Gems lab work