Introductory Review on Sirtuins in Biology, Aging, and Disease

American biologist best known for his research on life span extension in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, round worms (Caenorhabditis elegans), and mice. He is currently a Novartis Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Based on the discovery that SIR2 is a key regulator of longevity in both yeast and worms, he is interested in determining whether this highly conserved gene also governs longevity in other organisms, including mammals.

In 1999, Guarente became co-founder of Elixir Pharmaceuticals, which aimed to develop drugs targeting sirtuin. Leonard Guarente wrote an autobiography in 2003 titled Ageless Quest: One Scientist's Search for Genes That Prolong Youth. He is founder of technology start-up Elysium Health.
Raul Mostoslavsky received his M.D. from the University of Tucuman in Argentina and his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. His longstanding interest in basic science and epigenetics brought him to Harvard Medical School to pursue postdoctoral studies where he first became interested in sirtuins. In 2007 Dr. Mostoslavsky opened his own lab at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School. He is currently the Laurel Schwartz Associate Professor of Oncology at the MGH Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, the Kristin and Bob Higgins MGH Research Scholar, and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute.

His main research interests are on the crosstalk between epigenetics and metabolism, and the roles of chromatin sirtuins in health and disease, particularly cancer.
Aleksey Kazantsev received his bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry from Moscow Pedagogical University. As a graduate student he was enrolled in the Genetics, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed his PhD thesis in 1997.

Dr. Kazantsev then joined David Housman's laboratory at the Massachusetts Institu