https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from Buck Institute for Research on Aging Scientists at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging have shown that an orally administered small molecule, N-propargylglycine (N-PPG), can completely prevent the formation of calcium oxalate kidney stones, protect against kidney failure, and fully restore normal survival in a mouse model of primary hyperoxaluria type 2 (PH2), a rare and currently untreatable genetic disorder that causes progressive kidney failure in infants and young adults. An estimated 1,700 people suffer from the disease in the US, although experts believe many more cases go undiagnosed. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-small-molecule-drug-candidate-rare.html Thu, 02 Apr 2026 17:30:01 EDT news694368001 Most chronic diseases don't begin with obvious symptoms or dramatic warning signs. Instead, they develop quietly over many years, as small changes accumulate in the body. A new perspective from researchers at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging notes that modern medicine often waits until disease is well underway and argues that new technologies could help detect risk much earlier, when prevention may be most effective. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-disease-earlier-symptoms.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 18 Feb 2026 11:00:32 EST news690479882 Even though aging is the largest risk factor for Parkinson's disease, the majority of research aimed at taming the incurable neurodegenerative motor disease has largely left aging out of the mix. A group of researchers from around the globe seeks to change that, and has published a study titled "Unraveling the intersection of aging and Parkinson's disease: a collaborative road map for advancing research models." https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-roadmap-spotlights-aging-key-advancing.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Wed, 11 Feb 2026 17:18:35 EST news690052682 A holistic inquiry into how toxic tau impacts synapses provides a new take on the processes that lead to neuronal dysfunction and memory loss in Alzheimer's disease. A tool, developed in the Tracy lab, enables researchers to track changes in the synaptic proteome, correlating changes to synaptic dysregulation and synapse loss over time. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-discovery-cascade-events-toxic-tau.html Neuroscience Thu, 29 Jan 2026 16:50:01 EST news688919010 When the four-member crew of Axiom-2 launched into space in May 2023, their 10-day mission was chock full of experiments aimed at understanding human physiology. Results from some of those experiments, now online at Aging Cell, highlight spaceflight as a unique model for studying aging as well as cellular resilience. The research sets the stage for testing potential anti-aging interventions for those of us who have no plans to travel in space. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-exploring-cosmos-astronauts-fuel-explorations.html Medical research Wed, 14 Jan 2026 14:27:51 EST news687623221 With the advent of commercial spaceflight, an increasing number of people may be heading into space in the coming years. Some will even get a chance to fly to the moon or live on Mars. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-hitchhiker-galaxy-space-immunology.html Space Exploration Thu, 16 Oct 2025 11:00:01 EDT news679677480 The same chemical reaction that makes a piece of freshly toasted bread delicious also happens in our bodies, with far less appetizing consequences. We're talking about the Maillard reaction, where sugars react with protein to form brown, sticky compounds in a process called glycation. Glycation is increasingly suspected to be a hidden driver of obesity, diabetes and accelerated aging. Researchers in the Kapahi lab have found a way to tame it in mice by feeding them a combination of glycation-lowering compounds. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-glycation-lowering-compounds-curb-hunger.html Gerontology & Geriatrics Tue, 14 Oct 2025 13:04:04 EDT news679665841 The gut contains the largest collection of immune cells in the body. New research at the Buck Institute shows that some of those immune cells travel along the brain/gut axis in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (AD), providing a potential new therapeutic pathway for the memory-robbing malady. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-gut-immune-alzheimer-mouse-therapeutics.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Fri, 29 Aug 2025 11:00:05 EDT news675590693 Reproductive timing matters when it comes to aging and age-related disease. In a study now online at eLife, Buck Institute for Research on Aging researchers have determined that girls who go through puberty (the onset of menstruation) before the age of 11 or women who give birth before the age of 21 have double the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart failure and obesity and quadruple the risk of developing severe metabolic disorders. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-early-puberty-childbirth.html Health Mon, 18 Aug 2025 16:12:05 EDT news674752321 A new study from scientists at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging has revealed a surprising player in the battle against Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia: brain sugar metabolism. Published in Nature Metabolism, the research uncovers how breaking down glycogen—a stored form of glucose—in neurons may protect the brain from toxic protein buildup and degeneration. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-neurons-sugar-differently-discovery-neurodegeneration.html Neuroscience Mon, 30 Jun 2025 05:00:01 EDT news670243081 Inspired by advances in cancer therapy, a team at the Buck Institute has engineered immune cells equipped with specialized targeting devices called chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that can distinguish and respond to tau tangles and various forms of toxic amyloid plaques, both of which are implicated in Alzheimer's disease pathology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-technology-enables-immunotherapy-cancer-tackle.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Thu, 12 Jun 2025 09:19:04 EDT news668938741 A team of international researchers has developed a new biological age "clock" that estimates how well someone is aging, not just how "old" they or their various organs might be. The IC Clock, which is described in a study in Nature Aging, measures intrinsic capacity (IC), the sum of six key functions that determine healthy aging: mobility, cognition, mental health, vision, hearing and nutrition/vitality. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-blood-based-epigenetic-clock-aging.html Gerontology & Geriatrics Wed, 04 Jun 2025 05:00:01 EDT news668162941 A first-of-its-kind clinical trial shows that therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) combined with intravenous immunoglobulin reduced biological age on average by 2.6 years, as measured by multi-omic biomarkers. Results of the single-blind, placebo-controlled trial are published in Aging Cell. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-05-clinical-trial-impact-therapeutic-plasma.html Medications Wed, 28 May 2025 15:30:43 EDT news667665032 Ketone bodies, produced by the body to provide fuel during fasting, have roles in regulating cellular processes and aging mechanisms beyond energy production. Research at the Buck Institute shows that ketone bodies can best be understood as powerful signaling metabolites affecting brain function in aging and Alzheimer's disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-12-ketone-esters-misfolded-proteins-mouse.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Mon, 02 Dec 2024 11:00:01 EST news652352581 Discoveries that impact lifespan and healthspan in fruit flies are usually tested in mice before being considered potentially relevant in humans, a process that is expensive and time-intensive. A pioneering approach taken at the Buck Institute leapfrogs over that standard methodology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10-key-metabolites-impacting-lifespan-flies.html Gerontology & Geriatrics Tue, 29 Oct 2024 16:17:50 EDT news649437466 The ketogenic diet has its fanatics and detractors among dieters, but either way, the diet has a scientifically documented impact on memory in mice. While uncovering how the high fat, low carbohydrate diet boosts memory in older mice, Buck scientists and a team from the University of Chile identified a new molecular signaling pathway that improves synapse function and helps explain the diet's benefit on brain health and aging. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-06-ketogenic-diet-healthspan-memory-aging.html Gerontology & Geriatrics Tue, 18 Jun 2024 08:23:15 EDT news637917791 As long as humans have been traveling into space, astronauts have experienced significant health effects from the extreme conditions of space flight, notably the reduction of gravity. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-explore-immune-awry-space-implications.html Space Exploration Tue, 11 Jun 2024 11:00:01 EDT news637313701 It has long been known that a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, and most other neurodegenerative diseases, is the clumping together of insoluble protein aggregates in the brain. During normal disease-free aging, there is also an accumulation of insoluble proteins. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-05-vicious-protein-clumping-alzheimer-disease.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Thu, 16 May 2024 16:11:47 EDT news635094702 While newly approved drugs for Alzheimer's show some promise for slowing the memory-robbing disease, the current treatments fall far short of being effective at regaining memory. What is needed are more treatment options targeted to restore memory, said Buck Institute for Research on Aging Assistant Professor Tara Tracy, Ph.D., the senior author of a study that proposes an alternate strategy for reversing the memory problems that accompany Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-scientists-potential-synapses-alzheimer-disease.html Medical research Thu, 01 Feb 2024 12:56:27 EST news626014581 Restricting calories is known to improve health and increase lifespan, but much of how it does so remains a mystery, especially in regard to how it protects the brain. Buck Institute for Research on Aging scientists have uncovered a role for a gene called OXR1 that is necessary for the lifespan extension seen with dietary restriction and is essential for healthy brain aging. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-01-scientists-dietary-restriction-brain-aging.html Genetics Thu, 11 Jan 2024 15:21:04 EST news624208861 Autophagy, which declines with age, may hold more mysteries than researchers previously suspected. In the January 4th issue of Nature Aging, it was noted that scientists from the Buck Institute, Sanford Burnham Prebys and Rutgers University have uncovered possible novel functions for various autophagy genes, which may control different forms of disposal including misfolded proteins—and ultimately affect aging. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-roles-autophagy-genes-cellular-aging.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 04 Jan 2024 05:20:20 EST news623568004 Having healthy mitochondria, the organelles that produce energy in all our cells, usually portends a long healthy life whether in humans or in C. elegans, a tiny, short-lived nematode worm often used to study the aging process. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-11-drug-like-molecule-lifespan-ameliorates-pathology.html Medical research Mon, 13 Nov 2023 11:00:02 EST news619090325 A woman's fertility normally decreases by her late 30s with reproductive function eventually ceasing at menopause. It is known that a small molecule called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) plays a critical role in this decline, and Buck scientists have revealed how this happens and have identified potential new approaches to enhance reproductive longevity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-10-uncover-mechanism-links-nad-fertility.html Genetics Wed, 18 Oct 2023 12:48:17 EDT news616852094 People overeat and become overweight for a variety of reasons. The fact that flavorful high-calorie food is often available nearly everywhere at any time doesn't help. Buck researchers have determined for the first time why certain chemicals in cooked or processed foods, called advanced glycation end products, or AGEs, increase hunger and test our willpower or ability to make healthy choices when it comes to food. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-10-uncover-mechanism-people-binging-unhealthy.html Genetics Mon, 16 Oct 2023 16:16:03 EDT news616691761 Mopping up free radicals with antioxidants was the rage in the 1970s; people were taking large, sometimes massive doses of various general antioxidants, including vitamins and minerals, to try to remove harmful byproducts of energy metabolism. The method was supposed to blunt the effects of aging and stave off chronic disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-07-mouse-highlights-potential-therapeutic-major.html Gerontology & Geriatrics Mon, 10 Jul 2023 15:21:53 EDT news608221310 Buck Institute professor Pankaj Kapahi thinks the eye is a window to aging. His lab, in collaboration with Google Health and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, has shown how imaging of the fundus, the blood vessel-rich tissue in the retina, can be used to track human aging, in a way that is noninvasive, less expensive and more accurate than other aging clocks that are currently available. Publishing in eLife, researchers also did a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to establish the genetic basis for such a clock, which they call eyeAge. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-03-retinal-scans-non-invasive-inexpensive-method.html Ophthalmology Tue, 28 Mar 2023 16:40:02 EDT news599239850 Humans lose brain volume as they age, at an estimated rate of 5% per decade after age 40. But that estimate obscures the role that individual physiology plays in regards to functional brain aging. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-12-chronological-age-biological-gender-affect.html Neuroscience Tue, 06 Dec 2022 08:49:04 EST news589538941 The immune system protects us from infections, harmful substances and problematic changes in our own cells. Traditional research posits that parts of invading pathogens or cells sound the alarm, but accumulating evidence suggests that the physical environment surrounding immune cells may also play an active role in the early recognition of danger and in the initiation of immune responses. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-08-perspective-immunity-fine-tuned-mechanics.html Medical research Tue, 16 Aug 2022 17:15:03 EDT news579888901 While the role of the blood-brain barrier has long been appreciated for its ability to maintain precise control over what molecules can enter the nervous system, very little is known about how the cells that form the barrier influence the function of the nervous system. "What we know currently about the blood-brain barrier is mostly that we don't know much beyond the basics," says Buck Institute professor Pejmun Haghighi, Ph.D., who has uncovered a new role for these cells. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-08-role-blood-brain-barrier-neuron-function.html Medical research Mon, 15 Aug 2022 15:00:04 EDT news579773715 Researchers from the Buck Institute have demonstrated for the first time a link between diet, circadian rhythms, eye health and lifespan in Drosophila. Publishing in the June 7, 2022 issue of Nature Communications, they additionally and unexpectedly found that processes in the fly eye are actually driving the aging process. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-06-uncover-intriguing-diet-eye-health.html Medical research Tue, 07 Jun 2022 05:00:01 EDT news573795592