C. elegans | Mair Lab

C. elegans are 1.5mm long, free living, non-parasitic nematodes commonly found in soil and compost across the globe. They live about 2 weeks, and ... Menu CloseMenu Skiptocontent MairLab Home>MairLab>C.elegans MairLab Menu Searchfor: Home WhyStudyAging? C.elegans OurResearch Alzheimer’sDisease CRTCsinAgingandAge-relatedDisease EnergeticsandAging MitochondrialDynamicsandLongevity MolecularGeneticsofDietaryRestriction NeuronalRegulationofAging RNASplicingandAging WilliamMair LabMembers WilliamMair CarlosGiovanniSilva-García SnehaDutta CarolineHeintz NoelJackson AnneLanjuin VanessaLaversenne MariaPerezMatos AditiPrabhakar ArpitSharma HannahSmith MiriamValera-Alberni PallasYao LabAlumni SelectedPublications Inthenews JobOpportunities LabLife Whatwearelisteningto….. LabPhotos LabSpace HowOldistheMairLab Wherewearefrom Links FundingSources ContactInformation https://cdn1.sph.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/141/2012/09/C.-elegans-SD.mp4 C.elegans  C.elegans are1.5mmlong,freeliving,non-parasiticnematodescommonlyfoundinsoilandcompostacrosstheglobe.Theyliveabout2weeks,andduringthatshorttimetheydisplayobvioussignsofaging(seevideo below),includingreducedlocomotion,reproductivedecline,reducedstressresistance,sarcopeniaandacollapseinvarioushomeostaticmechanisms–eventheirskinwrinkles. https://cdn1.sph.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/141/2012/09/Aging-Worms-SD.mp4 AgingWorms:Young(3days,center),MiddleAged(8days,left)&Old(12days,right)animals https://cdn1.sph.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/141/2012/09/C.-elegans-expressing-CRTC-1__RFP-SD.mp4 C.elegans withfluorescentlytaggedproteins C.elegans havearound1000cells,yethavewelldefinedneuronal,muscular,hypodermalandintestinaltissuesystems.Wormsexistaseithermalesorselfinghermaphrodites,makingthemanidealgeneticsystem.Althoughtheirgenomeislessthan1/30th thesizeofthehumangenome,itcontainsnearlythesameamountofgenes,withmanyshowingstronghomologytomammaliancounterparts.Thismakesisapowerfulsystemtostudythemoleculargeneticsofaging.Wehaveawealthofgenetictoolsthatenableustorapidlyswitchonoroffindividualgeneswithinaworm,inspecifictissuesandatspecifictimepointsasitages.Thisallowsustoassigncausalitytoprocessesthatmediatehealthyaging. C.elegans arealsotransparent,whichmeanswecanaddfluorescent tagstoproteinsinordertotracktheirabundanceandcellularlocalizationinalivinganimalasitages.Togetherthesepropertiesmake C.elegans anidealsystemforcosteffectiveandrapididentificationoftheunderlyingmolecularmechanismsresponsiblefortheincreasedfrailtyanddiseaseresistanceseeninoldage.Havingidentifiedsuchtargets,wethenaimtotesttheirconservationinmammaliansystemsandultimatelydesignnoveltherapeuticsforage-relatedpathologies. @TheMAIRLab2022.Mostinpersonsome,um,retrofitted?https://t.co/folEeQPC71 Takingsometimeoutasalabtopolishoutvolleyball(ahem)skillshahahahWMhttps://t.co/8YMXyALTWM RT@biologyofaging:Watchthisspace,someexcitingnewsonthehorizon….RTandfollow! RT@William_Mair:Outofinterest-whatdononscientistsmostwantfromscientistsonTwitter?Howcanwebestprovidesomethinguseful(… CongratulationstoournewPhDCandidate@Lapp_Samuel,whopassedhisqualifyingexamtodaywithflyingcolors!We…https://t.co/AWvz5WlJmk NewsfromtheSchool AssessingFDAmovesonnicotine,e-cigsSetbackforemissionsregulationsAbortionaccessandpolicyafterRoeImprovingemergencyriskcommunication