Nicole E. Cummings
Graduate researcher in Dudley Lamming's lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and first author of a 2017 study reporting that eating fewer branched-chain amino acids restores metabolic health
Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology Graduate Training Program and Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison (Lamming lab, papers 2015–2019, at the time of the study)
Portrait: Lamming Lab, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Nicole Cummings is a co-author of two linked mouse studies from Dudley Lamming's lab in this Atlas (ARR2015, ARR2016). Rapamycin is the best-tested drug for extending lifespan in mice, but given every day it causes side effects such as poor blood sugar control and weaker immune responses. In ARR2015, mice given rapamycin daily (2 mg/kg) became glucose intolerant and their insulin-producing islets released less insulin. The same dose given once every five days left glucose and insulin tolerance normal, while dosing every three days was already too frequent. In ARR2016, female mice that started the every-five-days schedule at 20 months of age, which is old for a mouse, lived longer than untreated females. Taken together, the two mouse studies suggest that rapamycin's lifespan benefit can be partly separated from its side effects by giving it intermittently. This conclusion comes from combining two experiments in mice, not from a single study, and has not been tested this way in people.
Cummings trained in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's graduate program in endocrinology and reproductive physiology while working in Lamming's lab. The main line of that work was diet: branched-chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine) are building blocks of protein, and leucine is a strong activator of mTORC1. Cummings was second author of a 2016 Cell Reports paper showing that eating fewer branched-chain amino acids improves metabolic health, and first author of a 2017 Journal of Physiology paper reporting that the same diet change can restore metabolic health. Cummings also wrote a 2016 review, as first author, on how nutrient-sensing signalling pathways regulate metabolic health and aging, and co-authored studies on methionine restriction (2018) and on how calorie restriction improves insulin sensitivity through mTORC2 in fat tissue (2019).
No current position could be confirmed, so the affiliation shown is the one on the Atlas papers.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | A | Alternative rapamycin treatment regimens mitigate the impact of rapamycin on glucose homeostasis and the immune system ARR2015 Co-author: helped show that rapamycin given once every five days avoids the glucose intolerance seen with daily dosing in mice. |
| 2016 | A | Intermittent Administration of Rapamycin Extends the Life Span of Female C57BL/6J Mice ARR2016 Co-author: helped show that the same every-five-days schedule, started at 20 months of age, extended the lifespan of female mice. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 4
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Nicole E. Cummings.
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- Cassidy P. Pumper 2 shared studies Member of Dudley Lamming's group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who contributed to the intermittent rapamycin studies in mice
- Dudley W. Lamming 2 shared studies 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
- Emma L. Baar 2 shared studies Researcher in Dudley Lamming's group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who mapped how mTOR signalling changes with age in different mouse tissues and helped test gentler rapamycin dosing schedules
- Sebastian I. Arriola Apelo 2 shared studies Showed that giving rapamycin intermittently rather than daily lessens its effects on glucose metabolism and the immune system in mice
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