Rose S. Al-Saadi
Doctoral student in Patrick Phillips' lab at the University of Oregon who studies how ageing differs between the sexes, using male C. elegans
Doctoral student, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon (Patrick Phillips lab, papers 2025–2026) · Department of Biology, Syracuse University (Sarah Hall lab, 2026 paper)
Rose Al-Saadi is first author of ALS2026, a study in the tiny roundworm C. elegans. Most worm ageing research uses hermaphrodites, which make both eggs and sperm; this study looked at males. The team used a chemical switch (auxin-inducible degradation) to destroy DAF-2, the worm's insulin/IGF-1 receptor, throughout the body of adult males. Median lifespan rose by more than 440 percent, one of the largest lifespan gains reported for a single intervention, and the males stayed able to mate much later in life. Destroying DAF-2 only in the male germline, in contrast, shortened life, the opposite of what happens in hermaphrodites.
The insulin/IGF-1 pathway and mTOR are linked growth signals that both control ageing, so the paper shows that the sexes can respond differently to the same anti-ageing switch. The results are in worms and need testing in other animals.
Al-Saadi works with Patrick Phillips at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the University of Oregon on sex differences in ageing. A 2026 GeroScience paper from the pair tested seven compounds known to extend hermaphrodite lifespan: all lengthened male life, but only sulforaphane and metformin also kept males reproductively fit late in life. Earlier work in Sarah Hall's lab at Syracuse University, published in 2026, showed that a male worm's developmental history, including passage through the stress-resistant dauer stage, shapes how often worms cross-mate. The University of Oregon's Institute of Ecology and Evolution lists Al-Saadi as a doctoral student in the Phillips lab.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | A | Disruption of the insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway in Caenorhabditis elegans dramatically increases male longevity and enhances reproductive health late in life ALS2026 First author: showed that adult-wide degradation of the DAF-2 insulin/IGF-1 receptor extends male C. elegans median lifespan by more than 440 percent and prolongs late-life mating. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 1
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Rose S. Al-Saadi.
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- Patrick C. Phillips Evolutionary geneticist who uses the nematode C. elegans to study aging, including how insulin/IGF-1 signalling, a pathway tightly connected to mTOR, shapes lifespan.
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