Tobias Eisenberg
Showed as first author that the dietary polyamine spermidine extends lifespan by inducing autophagy, and later that it protects the heart in an autophagy-dependent way
Associate Professor and group leader, Institute of Molecular Biosciences, University of Graz (group leader since 2016) · venia docendi in Molecular Biology (2020) · APART project leader, Austrian Academy of Sciences (2013–2016) · postdoctoral researcher, University of Graz (2008–2013) · PhD, University of Graz (2004–2008) · biochemistry studies, University of Tübingen (1997–2004)
Institute of Molecular Biosciences, University of Graz (Graz, Austria) ↗ ORCID0000-0003-3559-1130 ↗
Portrait: University of Graz
EIS2009 is the opening of a branch the Atlas had been missing: a way to induce autophagy through a route other than mTOR kinase signalling (EIS2009 itself did not measure mTOR). Spermidine is a natural polyamine whose concentration falls with human age. Feeding it extended lifespan in yeast, flies, worms and human immune cells, and the effect depended on autophagy. The mechanism runs through inhibition of histone acetyltransferases and the transcriptional upregulation of autophagy genes — chromatin, not kinase signalling.
EIS2016 is the mammalian follow-up and the reason the branch matters for human health claims. Oral spermidine extended mouse lifespan, reduced cardiac hypertrophy and preserved diastolic function in old mice. The load-bearing control is the negative one: in mice whose cardiomyocytes lack Atg5, the protection disappears. That makes autophagy necessary for the effect rather than a correlate of it.
The same paper reports that high dietary spermidine in a human cohort correlates with lower blood pressure and fewer cardiovascular events. That part is a food questionnaire, so it is observational and does not carry the causal weight the mouse data carry — a distinction worth keeping when this work is quoted.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | A | Induction of autophagy by spermidine promotes longevity EIS2009 First author: spermidine induces autophagy by inhibiting histone acetyltransferases and extends lifespan in yeast, flies, worms and human immune cells. |
| 2016 | A | Cardioprotection and lifespan extension by the natural polyamine spermidine EIS2016 First author: oral spermidine extends mouse lifespan and protects the ageing heart, and the protection is lost in mice lacking Atg5 in cardiomyocytes. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 20
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Tobias Eisenberg.
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- Didac Carmona-Gutierrez 2 shared studies Studies how cell death and autophagy shape ageing at the University of Graz, and contributed to the studies showing that spermidine extends lifespan through autophagy
- Frank Madeo 2 shared studies Established spermidine as a dietary compound that extends lifespan in yeast, worms, flies and mice, and showed that the effect depends on autophagy
- Christoph Magnes 2 shared studies Analytical chemist at Joanneum Research whose group contributed the mass-spectrometry measurements of polyamines in the Graz spermidine studies
- Christoph Ruckenstuhl 2 shared studies Yeast geneticist who works out how amino-acid restriction and vacuole acidity set lifespan
- Sabrina Büttner 2 shared studies Studies how organelles communicate inside cells and how that communication breaks down with age, and contributed to the Graz studies showing that spermidine extends lifespan by inducing autophagy
- Sabrina Schroeder 2 shared studies Researcher in Frank Madeo's group at Graz who has contributed to the spermidine studies from the first yeast longevity experiments to work in mice
- Birgit Rathkolb Scientist at the German Mouse Clinic of Helmholtz Munich and the Gene Center of LMU Munich who contributes to the clinic's phenotyping of mouse models
- Frauke Neff First author of the study that separated what rapamycin does to lifespan from what it does to ageing itself
- Guido Kroemer Cell biologist known for work on programmed cell death, mitochondria and autophagy, and for linking autophagy to ageing and cancer immunity.
- Helmut Fuchs Scientific and technical head of the German Mouse Clinic at Helmholtz Munich, the standardised many-organ testing platform for mouse models that Fuchs helped build
- Jan Rozman Scientist who worked at the German Mouse Clinic of Helmholtz Munich on the standardised phenotyping of mouse models
- Johannes Beckers Geneticist at Helmholtz Munich and the Technical University of Munich whose group at the Institute of Experimental Genetics runs gene-expression profiling for the German Mouse Clinic
- Jörn Dengjel Mass-spectrometry proteomics specialist in autophagy and protein homeostasis; co-author on the TBK1/ULK1–TFEB lysosomal stress pathway and on the spermidine lifespan and cardioprotection study.
- Junichi Sadoshima Studies how mTOR, autophagy and mitophagy protect the heart under stress and in ageing, and contributed to the finding that spermidine protects the heart
- Kristin Moreth Scientist at the German Mouse Clinic of Helmholtz Munich who contributed to its phenotyping of mouse models, including heart measurements
- Luca Scorrano Mitochondrial biologist known for showing how the shape of mitochondria and their inner folds (cristae) control energy production and cell death.
- Marion Horsch Scientist at the Institute of Experimental Genetics, Helmholtz Munich, who has worked with Johannes Beckers on gene-expression studies of mouse models for the German Mouse Clinic
- Martin Hrabě de Angelis Mouse geneticist who directs large-scale phenotyping of mouse mutants and the German Mouse Clinic, a platform that tests how genes affect health and disease.
- Nektarios Tavernarakis Geneticist who uses the roundworm C. elegans to study how ageing, neurodegeneration, necrotic cell death, autophagy and protein turnover are controlled
- Valérie Gailus-Durner Biochemist who co-founded the German Mouse Clinic at Helmholtz Munich and leads it as scientific head, running standardised testing of mouse models across many organ systems
Every researcher with a profile →
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