Interconnections between genetics, ageing, pathology and medicine, as revealed in an interview with George Martin

Autor: Robin Holliday
Rok vydání: 2006
Předmět:
Zdroj: Biogerontology. 7:297-303
ISSN: 1573-6768
1389-5729
DOI: 10.1007/s10522-006-9000-7
Popis: George Martin has had a distinguished career in gerontology, based on his wide-ranging knowledge of pathology, cell biology and genetics. He and his colleagues followed up Leonard Hayflick’s early observation that skin fibroblasts from young donors had greater cell division potential than those from older donors. Their very extensive studies documented a decline of about 0.2 population doublings per year of donor life. They also discovered that cells from an individual with the premature ageing syndrome Werner’s syndrome had a very short in vitro lifespan. His laboratory also demonstrated that this inherited disease has a strong effect on karyotype stability. Using modern techniques, the Werner’s syndrome gene was cloned and found to be a DNA helicase. He has carried out comprehensive surveys of all inherited conditions in man that have some bearing on the ageing phenotype. He coined the term ‘‘segmental progeroid’’ syndrome, meaning that there are genetic conditions which advance some, but not all the normal features of ageing. His group has also been successful in advancing in several ways our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease. His particular forte is to take a broad view that encompasses many aspects of human genetics, biomedicine and ageing. I interviewed George in his office in the Department of Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, on August 25th, 2005.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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