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Cynthia Kenyon

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Cynthia Kenyon
Kenyon in 2014
Born (1954-02-21) February 21, 1954 (age 72)
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Known forAging in C. elegans
AwardsDan David Prize
Dickson Prize
Scientific career
FieldsBiologist
WorkplacesCalico Life Sciences, LLC; Professor emeritus University of California San Francisco (UCSF) MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Graham C. Walker
Notable students
Coleen T. Murphy
Andrew Dillin

Cynthia Jane Kenyon (born February 21, 1954) is an American molecular biologist and biogerontologist known for her genetic dissection of aging in a widely used model organism, the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. She is the vice president of aging research at Calico Research Labs and emeritus professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Career

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In 1976, Kenyon graduated from the University of Georgia as Valedictorian, earning bachelor's degrees in chemistry and biochemistry.[1]

In 1981, Kenyon received her Ph.D. from MIT, where she worked in Graham Walker's laboratory. Her doctoral research used gene-expression profiles to identify a set of genes in E. coli that are activated in response to DNA-damaging agents.[2][3]

From 1982 to 1986, Kenyon conducted postdoctoral research with Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, where she studied the development of C. elegans.[4] In 1986, she joined the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco.[5]

Since 1986, Kenyon has been at UCSF, where she was the Herbert Boyer Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics and is now an American Cancer Society Professor.[6]

In 1993, Kenyon discovered that a single-gene mutation in daf-2 could double the lifespan of C. elegans, and that this could be reversed by a second mutation in daf-16.[7] Kenyon and her collaborators have since extended the lifespan of the worm C. elegans by as much as sixfold with further manipulation of the insulin/IGF-I pathway. [8]

In 1999, Kenyon co-founded Elixir Pharmaceuticals with Leonard Guarente to try to discover and develop drugs that would slow down the process that makes people age.[6]

Beginning in November 2013, Kenyon served as a part-time advisor at Calico, a new company focused on health, well-being, and longevity.[9] In April 2014, Kenyon was named Vice President of Aging Research at Calico,[10] although Kenyon remains affiliated with UCSF as an emeritus professor.[11]

Genetic discoveries

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Beginning in 1986, Kenyon's early work helped establish that Hox genes, previously characterized through their role in patterning the segmented body of Drosophila, also control body patterning in the unsegmented nematode C. elegans.[12] In 1988, Kenyon and her collaborators showed that the C. elegans patterning gene mab-5 contains a homeobox homologous to that of the Drosophila Hox gene Antennapedia.[13] These findings contributed to the recognition that Hox genes form an evolutionarily ancient system for patterning the bodies of diverse animals.[14]

Kenyon's 1993 lifespan discovery sparked an intensive study of the molecular biology of aging, including work by Leonard Guarente and David Sinclair.[6]

Kenyon's findings helped establish that evolutionarily conserved signaling pathways regulate lifespan across the animal kingdom.[15]

Awards and honors

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Personal diet

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Kenyon's research prompted her to make personal dietary changes. In 2000, when she discovered that putting sugar on the worms' food shortened their lifespans, she stopped eating high glycemic index carbohydrates and started eating a low-carbohydrate diet.[26][27][28] She briefly experimented with a calorie restriction diet for two days, but couldn't stand the constant hunger.[27]

Bibliography

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  • Old World: Project Syndicate's Special Supplement on Aging ASIN B005NZ5BM4
  • The Harvey Lectures 2004-2005

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Cynthia Kenyon, pioneering aging and life-extension researcher, to deliver Charter Lecture". UGA Today. University of Georgia. 2016-10-24. Retrieved 2026-08-26.
  2. ↑ "Cynthia Kenyon, PhD". UCSF Profiles. University of California, San Francisco. Retrieved 2026-08-26.
  3. ↑ Kenyon, Cynthia J.; Walker, Graham C. (1980). "DNA-damaging agents stimulate gene expression at specific loci in Escherichia coli". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 77 (5): 2819–2823. doi:10.1073/pnas.77.5.2819. PMC 349496. PMID 6771759.
  4. ↑ "Cynthia Kenyon, PhD". UCSF Profiles. University of California, San Francisco. Retrieved 2026-08-26.
  5. ↑ "Cynthia Kenyon, Ph.D." Calico. Retrieved 2026-08-26.
  6. 1 2 3 Duncan, David Ewing (2007-08-15). "The Enthusiast". MIT Technology Review.
  7. ↑ Kenyon C, Chang J, Gensch E, Rudner A, Tabtiang R (1993). "A C. elegans mutant that lives twice as long as wild type". Nature. 366 (6454): 461–464. Bibcode:1993Natur.366..461K. doi:10.1038/366461a0. PMID 8247153. S2CID 4332206.
  8. ↑ Murphy, Coleen T.; McCarroll, Steven A.; Bargmann, Cornelia I.; Fraser, Andrew; Kamath, Ravi S.; Ahringer, Julie; Li, Hao; Kenyon, Cynthia (2003). "Genes that act downstream of DAF-16 to influence the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans". Nature. 424 (6946): 277–283. doi:10.1038/nature01789. PMID 12845331.
  9. ↑ "Archive: Kenyon Tapped as Calico Scientific Advisor | UC San Francisco". www.ucsf.edu. 2013-11-20. Retrieved 2026-07-16.
  10. ↑ "Cynthia Kenyon, Ph.D." Calico. Retrieved 2026-07-16.
  11. ↑ "Cynthia Kenyon | UCSF Profiles". profiles.ucsf.edu. Retrieved 2026-07-16.
  12. ↑ Kenyon, Cynthia (1986). "A gene involved in the development of the posterior body region of C. elegans". Cell. 46 (3): 477–487. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(86)90668-9. PMID 3731276.
  13. ↑ Costa, Michele; Weir, Michael; Coulson, Alan; Sulston, John; Kenyon, Cynthia (1988). "Posterior pattern formation in C. elegans involves position-specific expression of a gene containing a homeobox". Cell. 55 (5): 747–756. PMID 2903796.
  14. ↑ Feng, Wen; Li, Junjie; Kratsios, Paschalis (2024). "Almost 40 years of studying homeobox genes in C. elegans". Development. 151 (21) dev204328. doi:10.1242/dev.204328.
  15. ↑ Kenyon, Cynthia J. (2011). "The first long-lived mutants: discovery of the insulin/IGF-1 pathway for ageing". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 366 (1561): 9–16. doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0276. PMC 3001308. PMID 21115525.
  16. ↑ "Cynthia J. Kenyon". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. April 2023. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  17. ↑ "1998 Senior Scholar, Cynthia Kenyon, Wins King Faisal Prize". The Ellison Medical Foundation. May 14, 2000. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  18. ↑ "Cynthia J. Kenyon". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  19. ↑ "Past and Present GSA Officers". GSA. Archived from the original on 4 December 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  20. ↑ "Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences Recipients". Association of American Medical Colleges. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  21. ↑ "Zehnter "Ilse und Helmut Wachter-Preis" an deutschen Pionier der Genforschung". Medizinische Universität Innsbruck. November 30, 2018. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  22. ↑ "Annual Report 2006" (PDF). Ipsen. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  23. ↑ Guroff, Margaret (January 2008). "Inspire Awards 2008 Honorees - Cynthia Kenyon, Longevity Researcher". AARP. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  24. ↑ "Cynthia Kenyon - Dan David Prize". The Dan David Prize. 11 November 2021. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  25. ↑ "2021 Dickson Prize Winner". University of Pittsburgh. April 18, 2023. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  26. ↑ O'Neill, B (January 2004). "In Methuselah's Mould". PLOS Biology. 2 (1): E12. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0020012. PMC 322746. PMID 14758367.
  27. 1 2 Kingsland, James (18 October 2003). "I want to live forever". New Scientist.
  28. ↑ Platoni, Kara (January 18, 2006). "Live, Fast, Die Old". East Bay Express. Archived from the original on March 11, 2007. Retrieved July 3, 2007.
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