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
| 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
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Tobias Eisenberg.
- 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
- Frauke Neff First author of the study that separated what rapamycin does to lifespan from what it does to ageing itself
- 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