Venki Ramakrishnan

He said, all this shows is that an all-you-can-eat diet is bad for you. Because in the wild, you never have all you can eat. This is a problem of a plentiful food supply, civilized society. But nevertheless, caloric restriction makes a difference, and it does affect a number of pathways. And people have found out that there are drugs that can inhibit some of these pathways.

He said, all this shows is that an all-you-can-eat diet is bad for you. Because in the wild, you never have all you can eat. This is a problem of a plentiful food supply, civilized society. But nevertheless, caloric restriction makes a difference, and it does affect a number of pathways. And people have found out that there are drugs that can inhibit some of these pathways.

And those drugs will often have some of the benefits of caloric restriction, maybe many of the benefits of caloric restriction. One of them called rapamycin was discovered in this very odd way. It has a fascinating history, how it was discovered. But it inhibits a major pathway called the TOR pathway. but which is also restricted by caloric restriction, inhibited by caloric restriction.

And those drugs will often have some of the benefits of caloric restriction, maybe many of the benefits of caloric restriction. One of them called rapamycin was discovered in this very odd way. It has a fascinating history, how it was discovered. But it inhibits a major pathway called the TOR pathway. but which is also restricted by caloric restriction, inhibited by caloric restriction.

And so when they tried to give rapamycin to older animals, those older animals did seem to have improved health and improved symptoms and also lived a bit longer. So it's become a darling of the aging, some of the aging research community. But rapamycin is also the reason that it was known as a drug was because it's immunosuppressant.

And so when they tried to give rapamycin to older animals, those older animals did seem to have improved health and improved symptoms and also lived a bit longer. So it's become a darling of the aging, some of the aging research community. But rapamycin is also the reason that it was known as a drug was because it's immunosuppressant.

It's given to transplant recipients to prevent organ rejections. And you wouldn't want to take an immunosuppressant all your life. I mean, if you're an organ recipient, you would, because otherwise you'd die, you'd reject your organ. But the equation's different if you're normally healthy. Why would you want to risk infection? And then it has all sorts of other side effects.

It's given to transplant recipients to prevent organ rejections. And you wouldn't want to take an immunosuppressant all your life. I mean, if you're an organ recipient, you would, because otherwise you'd die, you'd reject your organ. But the equation's different if you're normally healthy. Why would you want to risk infection? And then it has all sorts of other side effects.

So the aging, some of the rapamycin advocates would argue that, well, maybe there's a dose at which it has the benefits without the side effects. Or maybe we can find compounds similar to rapamycin that don't have the side effects but have the benefits. So that's an ongoing research field. And I would say that's a valid field.

So the aging, some of the rapamycin advocates would argue that, well, maybe there's a dose at which it has the benefits without the side effects. Or maybe we can find compounds similar to rapamycin that don't have the side effects but have the benefits. So that's an ongoing research field. And I would say that's a valid field.

So the other thing is exercise. The other thing is exercise. And exercise, it turns out... helps to repair and renew the body. In fact, It's involved in regeneration of mitochondria, regeneration of muscle. So it has a huge number of benefits. And the last leg of this trio is sleep. So we think of sleep as something that maybe mammals do or animals with a brain or eyes do.

So the other thing is exercise. The other thing is exercise. And exercise, it turns out... helps to repair and renew the body. In fact, It's involved in regeneration of mitochondria, regeneration of muscle. So it has a huge number of benefits. And the last leg of this trio is sleep. So we think of sleep as something that maybe mammals do or animals with a brain or eyes do.

It turns out sleep is highly conserved, even very simple organism sleep, even things like single-celled animals sleep. have a daily fluctuation in the genes they express, which is the equivalent of sleep. And sleep would normally, you would have selected against it because you're vulnerable when you're asleep.

It turns out sleep is highly conserved, even very simple organism sleep, even things like single-celled animals sleep. have a daily fluctuation in the genes they express, which is the equivalent of sleep. And sleep would normally, you would have selected against it because you're vulnerable when you're asleep.

And the fact that we all sleep and need to sleep means it's performing an essential function in life. There's a fascinating book called Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. And, you know, he goes into a lot of this detail. It turns out during sleep, we're doing a lot of maintenance and repair, both of our nervous system, but also of our cells. And sleep is essential for healthy aging.

And the fact that we all sleep and need to sleep means it's performing an essential function in life. There's a fascinating book called Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. And, you know, he goes into a lot of this detail. It turns out during sleep, we're doing a lot of maintenance and repair, both of our nervous system, but also of our cells. And sleep is essential for healthy aging.

And so this trio, I would say, is a great place for us. You don't have to restrict your calories to the absolute minimum you need, but As long as you avoid bad food and being overweight, and especially obesity is a real problem with all sorts of things, including aging and cancer.

And so this trio, I would say, is a great place for us. You don't have to restrict your calories to the absolute minimum you need, but As long as you avoid bad food and being overweight, and especially obesity is a real problem with all sorts of things, including aging and cancer.

So if you can avoid that, eat moderately and eat healthily and exercise regularly and sleep, that's a great way in which we can take control. And these might have been longstanding pieces of advice, but what's different now is we understand the molecular basis for why they're actually working. So we know that they do actually work.

So if you can avoid that, eat moderately and eat healthily and exercise regularly and sleep, that's a great way in which we can take control. And these might have been longstanding pieces of advice, but what's different now is we understand the molecular basis for why they're actually working. So we know that they do actually work.