Jun 13, 2022
In today’s episode we discuss how
the study of animal genes may shed light on human disorders of
aging such as stroke, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease. We
know that our circadian wake and sleep rhythms are controlled by a
biological master clock deep in the hypothalamus of the brain. And
that the change in melatonin levels, dropping with daylight and
rising at night, mediates the master clock, and other
on-off switches of biological clocks throughout
the body. So waxing and waning of light creates our daily
wake/sleep cycles. But animals that hibernate, such as bears, bats
and groundhog, spend months in a cold dark cave or burrow. So what
triggers a
hibernating animal like the groundhog to wake up and emerge from
its burrow? Contemplating the differences
between the daily external triggers of the human master clocks and
the signals for the hibernating animal master clocks, there are
lessons to learn from comparing clock genes in humans and
hibernating
mammals. Understanding how animal genomics can shed light on human
disease underpins
the research of today’s guest, Dr. Katharine Grabek, co-Founder
and Chief Scientific Officer of
FaunaBio.
Katharine
earned her PhD in Human Medical Genetics at the
University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus. She next trained
as a postdoctoral scholar in computational biology in Dr. Carlos
Bustamante’s lab at Stanford. Her research has focused on utilizing
proteomic, transcriptomic and genomic approaches to identify the
molecular components underlying the highly dynamic phenotype of
hibernation. With her two colleagues, Katharine founded
FaunaBio, where they study whether
solutions to our worst diseases could
be hidden in the
animal kingdom?
To learn more about FaunaBio or
contact Katharine Grabek:
Twitter:
@FaunaBio
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/29016965/admin/Dr.
Grabek: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krgrabek/
Contact Dr.
Gillian Lockitch
Schedule a complimentary Living Younger Discovery call with me at
https://calendly.com/askdrgill/discovery-phone-chat
Order your copy of Growing Older Living Younger: The Science of Aging Gracefully and The Art of Retiring Comfortably at the Growing Older Living Younger website wwww.askdrgill.com