Aging

Metformin is the most commonly prescribed type 2 diabetes drug, yet scientists still do not fully know how it works to control blood sugar levels. Professor Reuben Shaw, director of Salk’s NCI-designated Cancer Center, and collaborators have used a novel technology to investigate why it functions so well. The findings, which identified a surprising number of biochemical “switches” for various cellular processes, could also explain why metformin has been shown in recent studies to extend health span and life span.

Scientists from the lab of Professor David Schubert, including first author Antonio Currais and co-corresponding author Pamela Maher, have shown how the Alzheimer’s drug candidates CMS121 and J147 can slow aging in healthy older mice, blocking the damage to brain cells that normally occurs during aging and restoring the levels of specific molecules to those seen in younger brains. The research points out a new pathway that links normal aging to Alzheimer’s disease.