"Aging and the Immortal Germline

Today's Charter Lecture brings one of the world's foremost authorities on the molecular biology and genetics of aging and life extension, [and Franklin College alumna] Cynthia Kenyon, back to UGA:

Her lecture, "Aging and the Immortal Germline," is open free to the public. It will be held Nov. 7 at 2:30 p.m. in the Chapel.

Kenyon, who graduated as co-valedictorian with bachelor's degrees in chemistry and biochemistry from UGA in 1976, is the vice president of aging research for Calico LLC, a Google-funded company focused on aging research and therapeutics. She has been a global pioneer in aging research since her team's 1993 discovery that a single-gene mutation could double the lifespan of C. elegans (roundworms). This discovery led to the realization that such a pathway exists and influences aging rates in many species.

Kenyon earned her doctorate from MIT in 1981 and later became a postdoctoral fellow with Nobel Laureate Sydney Brenner in Cambridge, England, where she first began studying the development of C. elegans.

It is truly an honor to have one our own returning to campus to deliver one of the University's signature public lectures. This should be a good one - get to the Chapel early.