Robin J. Mockett
Studies ageing in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, including how rapamycin and diet change lifespan.
Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of South Alabama (since 2013) · Assistant Professor, University of South Alabama (2007–2013) · Research Assistant Professor, University of Southern California (2001–2007)
Mockett Lab, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of South Alabama (Mobile, Alabama, USA) ↗
Robin Mockett studies why animals age, mostly using fruit flies. Flies live only weeks, so a lifespan experiment can be finished quickly. His work has covered oxidative stress, genes that affect longevity and, more recently, how the drug rapamycin changes the lifespan of flies.
The 2026 study in the Atlas followed an earlier finding from the same laboratory that rapamycin shortened the life of one male fly strain. The team tested five fly strains on two different foods. On a cornmeal and torula yeast food, rapamycin mostly did not help and was harmful in 19 experiments. On a richer brewer's yeast food it was beneficial in eight experiments and not significantly harmful in any.
The result is a reminder that a drug's effect on lifespan can depend on diet, sex and genetic strain, which matters when results from different laboratories seem to disagree.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | A | Diet-dependent, beneficial and adverse effects of rapamycin on life span of Drosophila melanogaster JAC2026 Corresponding author: rapamycin extended or shortened fly lifespan depending on diet, strain and sex, so the drug can switch between helpful and harmful effects. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 1
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Robin J. Mockett.
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- Lauren N. Jackson Researcher in Robin Mockett's lab at the University of South Alabama who showed that rapamycin's effect on fruit fly lifespan swings from harmful to helpful depending on the food
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