Nancy L. Nadon
Scientist and programme official at the US National Institute on Aging who oversaw research resources for aging biology and helped run the Interventions Testing Program that found rapamycin extends mouse lifespan
Division of Aging Biology, National Institute on Aging (at the time of the studies) · Chief, Biological Resources Branch (listed 2013) · earlier research at NINDS, NIH, on myelin genetics (1990)
Portrait: NIH Office of Research on Women's Health (video still)
Nancy Nadon appears in this Atlas as a co-author on five reports from the Interventions Testing Program (ITP), which the National Institute on Aging (NIA) funds to test possible anti-aging drugs in mice. The ITP runs each test at three sites at once, in genetically mixed mice, so that a result is less likely to be a quirk of one lab or one mouse strain. The most famous result is HAR2009: rapamycin, which blocks the growth-control complex mTORC1, extended lifespan in both sexes even when feeding started late in life. Later reports showed the gain depends on dose and is larger in females (MIL2014), and that resveratrol, simvastatin, green tea extract, curcumin and several other popular compounds did not extend lifespan (MIL2011, STR2012). Acarbose, 17-alpha-estradiol and NDGA did, mostly in males (HAR2014).
Nadon's role was on the funding and organising side. An archived NIA page from 2013 lists Nadon as Chief of the Biological Resources Branch in the Division of Aging Biology, responsible for resource contracts and aged animal resources. Nadon wrote a 2006 review on how to design rodent lifespan studies, describing the problems the ITP had to solve, and was first author of a 2016 overview of the programme with the three site leaders.
Earlier, Nadon did laboratory research. A 1990 paper from NINDS at the NIH, as first author, traced a point mutation in a myelin protein gene that blocks the development of oligodendrocytes, the cells that insulate nerve fibres. The latest PubMed papers date from 2016 to 2018, and no current position could be confirmed.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | A | Rapamycin fed late in life extends lifespan in genetically heterogeneous mice HAR2009 Co-author from the NIA, which funds and coordinates the ITP: rapamycin fed from 600 days of age extended mouse lifespan in both sexes. |
| 2011 | A | Rapamycin, but not resveratrol or simvastatin, extends life span of genetically heterogeneous mice MIL2011 Co-author from the NIA: in the same ITP design, rapamycin extended lifespan while resveratrol and simvastatin did not. |
| 2012 | A | Evaluation of resveratrol, green tea extract, curcumin, oxaloacetic acid, and medium-chain triglyceride oil on life span of genetically heterogeneous mice STR2012 Co-author from the NIA on the ITP report in which five popular longevity compounds had no significant effect on lifespan. |
| 2014 | A | Acarbose, 17-α-estradiol, and nordihydroguaiaretic acid extend mouse lifespan preferentially in males. HAR2014 Co-author from the NIA on the ITP report in which acarbose, 17-alpha-estradiol and NDGA extended lifespan, mainly in males. |
| 2014 | A | Rapamycin-mediated lifespan increase in mice is dose and sex dependent and metabolically distinct from dietary restriction MIL2014 Co-author from the NIA on the ITP study showing that rapamycin's lifespan effect depends on dose and sex. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 9
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Nancy L. Nadon.
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- Clinton Astle 5 shared studies Long-time research associate of David Harrison at The Jackson Laboratory, with work on mouse blood stem cells and aging since the 1970s, and a co-author of the Interventions Testing Program papers that showed rapamycin extends mouse lifespan
- David E. Harrison 5 shared studies Led the Jackson Laboratory site of the NIA Interventions Testing Program. His 2009 Nature paper showed that rapamycin extends the lifespan of genetically diverse mice even when feeding starts at 20 months of age, which the authors described as the first pharmacological extension of lifespan in both sexes of a mammal
- Randy Strong 5 shared studies 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)
- Richard A. Miller 5 shared studies Leads the University of Michigan site of the NIA Interventions Testing Program. His papers showed that rapamycin extends mouse lifespan when started in middle age, and that the size of the benefit depends on dose and differs between males and females
- Kevin Flurkey 4 shared studies Biologist of aging at The Jackson Laboratory who has studied mouse lifespan and hormones since the early 1980s and co-authored the Interventions Testing Program papers on rapamycin
- Zelton Dave Sharp 3 shared studies Molecular biologist at UT Health San Antonio who works on rapamycin and aging in mice, from the Interventions Testing Program lifespan studies to cancer prevention in tumour-prone mice
- Adam B. Salmon Biologist of aging at UT Health San Antonio whose work in this Atlas spans rapamycin in mice and in common marmosets. He is a co-author on the Interventions Testing Program reports from the San Antonio site and on the marmoset rapamycin studies on blood markers, epigenetic age and the salivary gland
- David A. Sinclair Geneticist of aging at Harvard Medical School, known for work on sirtuins, NAD+ and the idea that aging stems from a loss of epigenetic information, who appears in this Atlas as a co-author on two mouse lifespan studies
- James L. Kirkland Founder of the field of senolytics, drugs that clear senescent cells, and a leader of clinical trials of ageing-targeted therapies
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