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News Coming of Age: Valter Longo on his quest to advance the biomedical science of aging By Athan Bezaitis Valter Longo came to the United States at age 16 from Genoa, Italy hoping to be a rock star. Luckily for the field of aging, fate led him down a different career path. Longo’s destiny changed at the renowned University of North Texas College of Music when the jazz performance major was asked to be the school’s bandleader. Whether it was the Mean Green marching outfit or too much gesturing – even for an Italian – he refused, knowing it could cost him his ‘rock reputation.’ After a few days of introspection, he decided to switch fields into a subject on the other side of the academic universe: biochemistry. “Aging is a great mystery,” said Longo, professor of gerontology and biology at the USC Leonard Davis School. “I spent two or three days thinking about what is important mystery-wise, I thought – you can’t miss with this.” Longo, who made headlines last year by recording one of the longest life-span extensions in any organism when he deleted the SIR2 gene in yeast, received tenure this fall. He reflected recently on the progression of aging research, the future of gerontology and how USC can lead the way in the burgeoning field of biology of aging. In graduate school at UCLA, Longo’s former professor, Roy Walford, was one of the pioneers of an anti-aging intervention called “caloric restriction.” Caloric restriction is the practice of limiting food intake in the hope that it will retard aging. The technique had proven to be effective in mice and has since been shown to promote healthy aging in primates and other animals. In the early nineties, he monitored the effect of caloric restriction on humans at the Biosphere 2, which was an experiment set in Arizona’s Santa Catalina Mountains that evaluated how humans could live in an artificial ecological system. “Roy believed that the caloric restriction diet would be effective from single cell organisms to primates,” Longo said. “It’s a powerful way to extend the lifespan.” While there is still no conclusive evidence that the diet is effective for humans, caloric restriction is growing increasingly popular – there is even a Calorie Restriction Society. The Biosphere 2, on the on the other hand, is slated to be redeveloped into a planned community. For many years, aging research went the way of the Biosphere. What was clearly needed, according to Longo, was the identification of the genes that mediate the effects of caloric restriction on aging and diseases: “During graduate school I had the first paper describing the genes and pathways that regulate aging in eukaryotes. We called it the ‘boomerang paper’ because it kept getting shot back for seven years before it was finally accepted,” Longo said. “The people who rejected it were supposedly not interested in aging research, but they all had bottles of vitamin C on their desk.” Aging research is gaining notoriety throughout the country as the baby boomers approach their sixties, and the field is now flush with funding. Longo has two papers soon to be released on aging and cancer. Some of his studies focus on treating cancers for which people may have a genetic predisposition; Longo envisions a future in which anti-aging genes are turned against cancer and other diseases. Patients will eventually receive treatment early in their lives as a preventative measure. “Before a person is forced to go to an oncologist they could go to a pre-oncologist in their twenties in order to prevent developing certain kinds of cancer,” Longo said. Longo also sees enormous potential for USC to continue as a leader in aging research. He would like to establish a molecular biology in aging program with faculty members from around the University dedicated exclusively to aging research. “There are great people around the University who are not in the Andrus Center who could contribute,” Longo said. “It could be collaboration between the schools of gerontology, the school of medicine and other schools.” He maintains that new doctors must understand why a cell becomes a cancer cell or how neuronal damage and death contributes to Alzheimer’s disease. Most major diseases come from age-dependent damage and loss of function, he says, which can be prevented or postponed. Longo believes biology of aging programs have the potential to become like immunology or pathology departments are today and that in the future, USC could house the leading program in the country. With so much on the horizon in gerontology he has no regrets about choosing aging over music but a little known fact around the Davis School is that his original dream of becoming a rock star nearly came true. In fact, his band D.O.T., which was influenced by Seattle grunge rockers Pearl Jam and Nirvana,signed a development deal with Interscope records at the same time as mega-groups No Doubt and Bush. Knowing he would eventually have to make a decision between the two Longo once again chose aging. His problem, he confessed, is that he doesn’t like hobbies. “If you think about it there really is no comparison between aging research and rock music,” Longo said. “If you are very successful in the aging field you may discover a drug that prevents diseases,’ while as a rock star the most you can hope for is for people to like your song, at least until the DJ plays the next one.” |
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