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
Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Simon Melov lab (2012–2017, most recent confirmed affiliation) · Department of Cell Biology, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth (2005–2008) · current position not confirmed
Most rapamycin studies in mice start the drug early and ask whether aging is slowed. In 2013 James Flynn, working with Simon Melov at the Buck Institute, asked a different question: can rapamycin help an organ that has already aged? Already old female mice, aged 24 months, received rapamycin for three months. Several age-related changes in heart function were reversed or reduced. Reading the active genes in the heart (RNA sequencing) pointed to less inflammation, changes in metabolism and less growth of heart muscle. The study was done in mice and does not show the same effect in people.
Flynn came to aging research from mitochondrial biology. At the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, Flynn studied how the hormone estrogen protects mitochondria in cells of the eye lens, as first author of a 2008 paper in this line of work with Patrick Cammarata.
At the Buck Institute, Flynn was first author of a 2012 study that measured gene activity in single bone-forming cells, and co-authored work from Judith Campisi's lab on cell senescence, the state in which damaged cells stop dividing, including a 2012 study linking mitochondrial oxidative stress to skin aging and a 2017 study on how senescent cells differ from one another. A current position could not be confirmed.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | A | Late-life rapamycin treatment reverses age-related heart dysfunction FLY2013 First author: three months of rapamycin in 24-month-old female mice reversed or reduced age-related heart dysfunction. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 4
People with a profile here who share at least one study with James M. Flynn.
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- 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
- 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
- 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.
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