Zelton Dave Sharp
Molecular biologist at UT Health San Antonio who works on rapamycin and aging in mice, from the Interventions Testing Program lifespan studies to cancer prevention in tumour-prone mice
Department of Molecular Medicine and Institute of Biotechnology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio · Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies · Mays Cancer Center (PubMed affiliations to 2023)
Portrait: UT Health San Antonio
Zelton Dave Sharp is a co-author of three Interventions Testing Program (ITP) papers in this Atlas. The ITP, funded by the US National Institute on Aging, tests possible anti-aging drugs in genetically mixed mice at three sites at once, so a result has to hold up in different labs. In HAR2009, rapamycin added to food from 600 days of age, already late in a mouse's life, extended both median and maximum lifespan in males and females. MIL2011 showed in the same design that rapamycin raised median lifespan by 10 to 18 percent while resveratrol and simvastatin had no effect. MIL2014 found that the gain depends on dose, is larger in females, and works differently from dietary restriction. These were the first convincing drug results for lifespan in mammals, but they are mouse results.
Sharp's own papers follow the same drug. As senior author, Sharp showed in 2013 that rapamycin lengthens the life of mice carrying one faulty copy of the Rb1 tumour suppressor gene by holding back their neuroendocrine tumours, and in 2016 described how mice adapt to long-term rapamycin. Sharp also co-authored a 2019 study linking mTORC1 to muscle fibre damage with age, and in 2023 was first author of a review in Experimental Gerontology calling rapamycin the only drug consistently shown to increase mammalian lifespan.
PubMed lists Sharp in the Department of Molecular Medicine and the Institute of Biotechnology at UT Health San Antonio, with links to the Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies and the Mays Cancer Center.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | A | Rapamycin fed late in life extends lifespan in genetically heterogeneous mice HAR2009 Co-author of the ITP study showing that rapamycin started late in life extends lifespan in both sexes. |
| 2011 | A | Rapamycin, but not resveratrol or simvastatin, extends life span of genetically heterogeneous mice MIL2011 Co-author: rapamycin extended lifespan in the same experiment in which resveratrol and simvastatin did not. |
| 2014 | A | Rapamycin-mediated lifespan increase in mice is dose and sex dependent and metabolically distinct from dietary restriction MIL2014 Co-author: the lifespan gain from rapamycin depends on dose, is larger in females and differs from dietary restriction. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 7
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Zelton Dave Sharp.
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- Clinton Astle 3 shared studies Long-time research associate of David Harrison at The Jackson Laboratory, with work on mouse blood stem cells and aging since the 1970s, and a co-author of the Interventions Testing Program papers that showed rapamycin extends mouse lifespan
- David E. Harrison 3 shared studies Led the Jackson Laboratory site of the NIA Interventions Testing Program. His 2009 Nature paper showed that rapamycin extends the lifespan of genetically diverse mice even when feeding starts at 20 months of age, which the authors described as the first pharmacological extension of lifespan in both sexes of a mammal
- Kevin Flurkey 3 shared studies Biologist of aging at The Jackson Laboratory who has studied mouse lifespan and hormones since the early 1980s and co-authored the Interventions Testing Program papers on rapamycin
- Nancy L. Nadon 3 shared studies Scientist and programme official at the US National Institute on Aging who oversaw research resources for aging biology and helped run the Interventions Testing Program that found rapamycin extends mouse lifespan
- Randy Strong 3 shared studies Leads the San Antonio site of the NIA Interventions Testing Program, which tests each compound in parallel at three sites under one shared protocol. He first-authored the program's reports on resveratrol and other supplements (2012) and on rapamycin combined with acarbose (2022)
- Richard A. Miller 3 shared studies Leads the University of Michigan site of the NIA Interventions Testing Program. His papers showed that rapamycin extends mouse lifespan when started in middle age, and that the size of the benefit depends on dose and differs between males and females
- Adam B. Salmon Biologist of aging at UT Health San Antonio whose work in this Atlas spans rapamycin in mice and in common marmosets. He is a co-author on the Interventions Testing Program reports from the San Antonio site and on the marmoset rapamycin studies on blood markers, epigenetic age and the salivary gland
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