Cynthia Kenyon

Cynthia Jane Kenyon (born February 21, 1954) is an

American molecular biologist and biogerontologist Cynthia Kenyon
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
Born February 21, 1954
Cynthia Kenyon graduated valedictorian in chemistry Alma mater Massachusetts Institute of
and biochemistry from the University of Georgia in Technology
1976. She received her Ph.D. in 1981 from MIT where, Known for Aging in C. elegans
in Graham Walker's laboratory, she looked for genes
Awards Dan David Prize
on the basis of their activity profiles, discovering that
Dickson Prize
DNA-damaging agents activate a battery of DNA
Scientific career
repair genes in E. coli. She then did postdoctoral
studies with Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner at the Fields Biologist
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, Institutions Calico Life Sciences, LLC;
England, studying the development of C. elegans. Professor emeritus University of
California San Francisco (UCSF)
Since 1986 she has been at the UCSF, where she was MRC Laboratory of Molecular
the Herbert Boyer Distinguished Professor of Biology
Biochemistry and Biophysics and is now an American
Doctoral Graham C. Walker
Cancer Society Professor. In 1999, she co founded-
advisor
Elixir Pharmaceuticals with Leonard Guarente to try to
discover and develop drugs that would slow down the Notable Coleen T. Murphy
process that makes people age.[1] students Andrew Dillin

In April 2014, Kenyon was named Vice President of Aging Research at Calico, a new company focused
on health, well-being, and longevity. Prior to that, she served as a part-time advisor beginning in
November 2013. Kenyon remains affiliated with UCSF as an emeritus professor.

Her early work led to the discovery that Hox genes, which were known to pattern the body segments of
the fruit fly (Drosophila) also pattern the body of C. elegans. These findings demonstrated that Hox genes
were not simply involved in segmentation, as thought, but instead were part of a much more ancient and
fundamental metazoan patterning system.
Michael Klass discovered that lifespan of C. elegans could be altered by mutations, but Klass believed
that the effect was due to reduced food consumption (caloric restriction).[2] Thomas Johnson later showed
that the 65% life extension effect was due to the mutation itself rather than due to caloric restriction.[3] In
1993, Kenyon's discovery that a single-gene mutation (Daf-2) could double the lifespan of C. elegans and
that this could be reversed by a second mutation in daf-16m,[4] sparked an intensive study of the
molecular biology of aging, including work by Leonard Guarente and David Sinclair.[1] Kenyon's
findings have led to the discovery that an evolutionarily conserved hormone signaling system influences
aging in other organisms, perhaps also including mammals.

Awards and honors

1997 Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences[5]
2000 King Faisal Prize for Medicine[6]
2003 Member, United States National Academy of Sciences[7]
2003 President, Genetics Society of America[8]
2004 Association of American Medical Colleges Award for Distinguished Research[9]
2005 Ilse & Helmut Wachter Award for Exceptional Scientific Achievement[10]
2006 La Fondation IPSEN Prize in Longevity[11]
2008 AARP Inspire Award[12]
2011 Dan David Prize for the Future – Aging: Facing the Challenge[13]
2021 Dickson Prize in Medicine.[14]

Personal diet
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.[15][16][17] She briefly experimented with a
calorie restriction diet for two days, but couldn't stand the constant hunger.[16]

See also
Genetics of aging

References
1. Duncan, David Ewing (August 15, 2007). "The Enthusiast" (https://www.technologyreview.co
m/s/408433/the-enthusiast/). MIT Technology Review.
2. Klass MR (1983). "A method for the isolation of longevity mutants in the nematode
Caenorhabditis elegans and initial results". Mechanisms of Ageing and Development. 22 (3–
4): 279–286. doi:10.1016/0047-6374(83)90082-9 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0047-6374%2
883%2990082-9). PMID 6632998 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6632998).
S2CID 6870538 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:6870538).
 3. Friedman DB, Johnson TE (1988). "A mutation in the age-1 gene in Caenorhabditis elegans
lengthens life and reduces hermaphrodite fertility" (http://www.genetics.org/content/118/1/7
5.long) (PDF). Genetics. 118 (1): 75–86. doi:10.1093/genetics/118.1.75 (https://doi.org/10.1
093%2Fgenetics%2F118.1.75). PMC 1203268 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P
MC1203268). PMID 8608934 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8608934).
4. 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 (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1993Natur.366..461K).
doi:10.1038/366461a0 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F366461a0). PMID 8247153 (https://pubm
ed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8247153). S2CID 4332206 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:43
32206).
5. "Cynthia J. Kenyon" (https://www.amacad.org/person/cynthia-j-kenyon). American Academy
of Arts & Sciences. April 2023. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
6. "1998 Senior Scholar, Cynthia Kenyon, Wins King Faisal Prize" (https://www.ellison-med-fn.
org/news_detail.jsp?id=7). The Ellison Medical Foundation. May 14, 2000. Retrieved
2023-06-05.
7. "Cynthia J. Kenyon" (http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/3002004.html).
National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
8. "Past and Present GSA Officers" (https://web.archive.org/web/20181204095737/http://www.
genetics-gsa.org/about/past_officers.shtml). GSA. Archived from the original (http://www.gen
etics-gsa.org/about/past_officers.shtml) on 4 December 2018. Retrieved 27 November
2018.
9. "Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences Recipients" (https://www.aa
mc.org/about-us/aamc-awards/distinguished-research/recipients). Association of American
Medical Colleges. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
10. "Zehnter "Ilse und Helmut Wachter-Preis" an deutschen Pionier der Genforschung" (https://
www.i-med.ac.at/pr/presse/2018/_60.html). Medizinische Universität Innsbruck. November
30, 2018. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
11. "Annual Report 2006" (https://www.ipsen.com/websites/IPSENCOM-PROD/wp-content/uplo
ads/2016/06/29123834/Ipsen_AR_2006_EN-1.pdf) (PDF). Ipsen. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
12. Guroff, Margaret (January 2008). "Inspire Awards 2008 Honorees - Cynthia Kenyon,
Longevity Researcher" (https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/advocacy/info-2007/inspire_aw
ards_2008_kenyon.html). AARP. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
13. "Cynthia Kenyon - Dan David Prize" (https://dandavidprize.org/laureates/cynthia-kenyon/).
The Dan David Prize. 11 November 2021. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
14. "2021 Dickson Prize Winner" (http://www.dicksonprize.pitt.edu/recipients/2021-kenyon.php).
University of Pittsburgh. April 18, 2023. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
15. O'Neill, B (January 2004). "In Methuselah's Mould" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article
s/PMC322746). PLOS Biology. 2 (1): E12. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0020012 (https://doi.org/
10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.0020012). PMC 322746 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article
s/PMC322746). PMID 14758367 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14758367).
16. Kingsland, James (18 October 2003). "I want to live forever" (https://www.newscientist.com/
article/mg18024175.300-i-want-to-live-forever.html). New Scientist.
17. Platoni, Kara (January 18, 2006). "Live, Fast, Die Old" (https://web.archive.org/web/200703
11020029/http://www.eastbayexpress.com/2006-01-18/news/live-fast-die-old/full). East Bay
Express. Archived from the original (http://www.eastbayexpress.com/2006-01-18/news/live-f
ast-die-old) on March 11, 2007. Retrieved July 3, 2007.

External links
 Basic Research: Cynthia Kenyon (http://discovermagazine.com/2004/nov/basic-research)
by Steven Kotler in Discover, vol. 25, no. 11, 2004
Cynthia Kenyon's Seminar: Genes that Control Aging (https://www.ibiology.org/development
-and-stem-cells/aging-genes/)
Cynthia Kenyon Talk: A Genetic Control Circuit for Aging (https://www.ibiology.org/genetics-a
nd-gene-regulation/circuit-for-aging/)
In Methuselah's Mould (http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0
020012), an open-access interview discussing Kenyon's research and her personal low carb
diet.
Cynthia Kenyon (https://www.ted.com/speakers/cynthia_kenyon) at TED

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