Rozalyn (Roz) Anderson is a professor at the

University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UWSMPH) is a professional school for the study of medicine and public health at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It is one of only two medical schools in Wisconsin, along wit ...

. She studies

aging Ageing (or aging in American English) is the process of becoming Old age, older until death. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi; whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentiall ...

and

caloric restriction Calorie restriction (CR, also known as caloric restriction or energy restriction) is a dietary regimen that reduces the energy intake from foods and beverages without incurring malnutrition. The possible effect of calorie restriction on body we ...

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

Education

Anderson received her bachelor's degree from

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

and her Ph.D. in

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

from

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

. In 2000 she moved to

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

for a post-doctoral fellowship with David Sinclair, where she studied caloric restriction and aging in

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...

. She began studying mammalian aging during a second post-doctoral fellowship with Richard Weindruch at the University of Wisconsin Institute on Aging and as an assistant scientist at the Wisconsin

National Primate Research Center National Primate Research Centers are a network of seven research programs in the United States funded by the National Institutes of Health to conduct biomedical research on primates. Each center is affiliated with a university or other host instit ...

. She is currently a professor at the University of Wisconsin in the Department of Medicine in the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology. Since 2014, Anderson has also been affiliated with the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism.

Research

In the Sinclair laboratory at Harvard Medical School, Anderson researched the regulation of the lifespan by calorie restriction in yeast, demonstrating that lifespan could be extended by genetic manipulation of the NAD⁺ salvage pathway, and that calorie restriction downregulates NAD⁺. Anderson worked as part of the University of Wisconsin team that demonstrated that caloric restriction has a beneficial effect in rhesus monkeys, improves survival, and lowers the incidence of diseases including diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease over the course of nearly three decades. She continues to study caloric restriction, focusing on primate skeletal muscle, white adipose tissue, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and metabolic regulators of cancer growth. In a 2014 interview discussing the different results of the

National Institute of Aging The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), located in Bethesda, Maryland. The NIA itself is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The NIA leads a broad scientific effort to understand ...

and University of Wisconsin

rhesus monkey The rhesus macaque (''Macaca mulatta''), colloquially rhesus monkey, is a species of Old World monkey. There are between six and nine recognised subspecies split between two groups, the Chinese-derived and the Indian-derived. Generally brown or g ...

caloric restriction studies, Anderson points out that due to the experimental setup, both the control and experimental groups were calorie restricted to some degree, which explains why no significant improvement was found in the experimental group. She also points out that the two studies are more informative due to their differing designs than if they had been performed identically. In 2013, Anderson won the Nathan Shock New Investigator Award from the

Gerontological Society of America The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is a multidisciplinary organization devoted to research and education in all aspects of gerontology: medical, biological, psychological and social. History and organization The Gerontological Society o ...

. From 2019-2021, Anderson served as the President of the American Aging Association. Anderson is the co-

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of ''

The Journals of Gerontology ''The Journals of Gerontology'' are the first scientific journals on aging published in the United States. The publication is separated into four separate peer-reviewed scientific journals, each with its own editor, and published in two series. Th ...

'' Series A: Biological Sciences.

References

External links

YouTube lecture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Rozalyn Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Place of birth missing (living people) Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of University College Dublin American women biochemists 21st-century American academics 21st-century American women scientists