The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) — the nation's largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging — has chosen Pankaj Kapahi, PhD, of the Buck Institute for Age Research as the 2010 recipient of the Nathan Shock New Investigator Award.
The distinguished honor is given for outstanding contributions to new knowledge about aging through basic biological research. It was established in 1986 to honor Nathan Shock, PhD, a founding member of GSA and pioneer in gerontological research at the National Institutes of Health.
The award presentation will take place at GSA's 63rd Annual Scientific Meeting, which will be held from November 19 to 23, 2010, in New Orleans, LA. This conference is organized to foster interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers, educators, and practitioners who specialize in the study of the aging process. Visit www.geron.org/2010 for further details.
Kapahi is an associate professor at the Buck Institute for Age Research. His laboratory was the first to identify the role of target of rapamycin (TOR) in mediating lifespan extension by dietary restriction, which is a robust environmental method of lifespan extension in species as diverse as yeast, worms, fruit flies and rodents.
Kapahi and his colleagues currently are employing an interdisciplinary approach combining biochemical, genetic, and genomic techniques, to understand how dietary restriction mediates changes in lifespan and metabolism using Drosophila melanogaster (common fruit fly), Caenorhabditis elegans (roundworm), and mammalian cell culture.
This work has a broad significance in helping to uncover the role of nutrition and identify therapeutics for age-related human diseases like cancer, diabetes, and neurodegeneration.
Kapahi received his doctorate from the University of Manchester in the U.K.
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is the nation's oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. The principal mission of the Society — and its 5,200+ members — is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. GSA's structure also includes a policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society, and an educational branch, the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education.