Brian K. Kennedy
Showed with Matt Kaeberlein that reducing TOR or Sch9 signalling extends yeast lifespan in the same way as dietary restriction, and has since championed mTOR as a target for slowing human ageing
Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry & Physiology, National University of Singapore (since 2017) · President & CEO, Buck Institute for Research on Aging (2010–2016) · Assistant/Associate Professor, University of Washington (with Matt Kaeberlein) · postdoc, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center · PhD, MIT (Leonard Guarente lab)
Faculty profile, National University of Singapore (Singapore) ↗ Lab lineagetrained under Leonard Guarente → ORCID0000-0002-5754-1874 ↗
Portrait: National University of Singapore
In 2005, Kennedy and Matt Kaeberlein, working together at the University of Washington, measured the replicative lifespan of 564 single-gene-deletion yeast strains. Six of the ten lifespan-extending hits were genes in the TOR (Target Of Rapamycin) and Sch9 pathway — large-scale screening evidence, rather than a single-gene hunch, that dialing down nutrient-sensing signaling through TOR is one of the most powerful levers for extending lifespan, in an organism as simple as budding yeast.
Kennedy trained with Leonard Guarente at MIT, whose lab had linked sirtuins to yeast aging, then moved into aging research proper as a UW faculty member working alongside Kaeberlein. In 2010 he took over as President and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, where he spent six years building it into one of the field's leading independent aging-research institutes.
Since 2017 Kennedy has been Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Physiology at the National University of Singapore, where he directs the Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme — work focused on translating basic geroscience, including TOR biology, into biomarkers and interventions that could delay human aging rather than just treat individual age-related diseases.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | M | Regulation of yeast replicative life span by TOR and Sch9 in response to nutrients KAE2005 A systematic screen of 564 yeast gene deletions finds ten lifespan-extending deletions, six of them in TOR and Sch9 pathway genes, establishing nutrient-sensing signaling as a central, targetable axis of aging. |
| 2006 | M | Extension of chronological life span in yeast by decreased TOR pathway signaling POW2006 Decreased TOR pathway signalling extends chronological lifespan in yeast. |
| 2013 | A | Late-life rapamycin treatment reverses age-related heart dysfunction FLY2013 Striking evidence that in mice mTOR inhibition doesn't just SLOW aging - it can partly reverse an established age-related phenotype. Giving rapamycin to already-old (24-month) female mice for 3 months improved aged heart function, reversing or attenuating age-related cardiac changes, with RNA-seq changes suggesting anti-hypertrophic and anti-inflammatory effects. Started late, still worked. |
| 2016 | R | The Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin: The Grand ConducTOR of Metabolism and Aging KEN2016 A review argues mTOR acts as the coordinating hub of whole-body metabolism and discusses the molecular basis of rapamycin's metabolic side effects, including mTORC2 inhibition, which may be barriers to repurposing it as an anti-aging drug. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 8
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Brian K. Kennedy.
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- Matt Kaeberlein 2 shared studies Extended TOR/aging research from yeast to mice to pet dogs
- Stanley Fields 2 shared studies Technology-driven geneticist whose yeast screens helped show that lowering TOR signaling extends chronological lifespan in yeast
- Dudley W. Lamming Showed as a postdoc that rapamycin's harm to glucose metabolism comes largely from its effect on mTORC2, while the lifespan benefit tracks mTORC1. His Wisconsin lab studies intermittent rapamycin dosing and how restricting dietary protein or single amino acids affects metabolism and ageing
- James M. Flynn Aging researcher from Simon Melov's lab at the Buck Institute who showed that a short course of rapamycin late in life can partly reverse heart aging in mice
- Pankaj Kapahi Showed that reducing TOR signalling extends fruit-fly lifespan, and that the translation repressor 4E-BP is needed for dietary restriction to extend it
- R Wilson Powers Molecular biologist who, as a PhD student in Seattle, built high-throughput lifespan screens in yeast and showed that lowering TOR signalling extends chronological lifespan, and who later became a patent attorney
- Randy Strong Leads the San Antonio site of the NIA Interventions Testing Program, which tests each compound in parallel at three sites under one shared protocol. He first-authored the program's reports on resveratrol and other supplements (2012) and on rapamycin combined with acarbose (2022)
- Simon Melov Geroscientist who studies how cells and tissues change with age or drug treatment, including the finding that late-life rapamycin improves heart function in old mice.
Every researcher with a profile →
On the programme
Meetings in the Atlas calendar where Brian K. Kennedy is listed among the speakers or organisers.
- upcoming Keystone Symposia: Healthy Aging & Therapeutic Opportunities 2027 ↗ 12–15 Apr 2027 ·
Taipei, Taiwan · ★★ Add to calendar:
Google ·
Apple / Outlook - past Fusion: 4th Metabolism in Health & Disease 2026 ↗ 10–13 Oct 2026 ·
Torres Vedras, Portugal · ★
All meetings in the calendar →
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