Ep. 94 . Professor Andrzej Bartke, PhD: Longevity/Hormone Regulation/Calorie Restriction/Metabolism

Professor Bartke is the Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Internal Medicine and Physiology at Southern Illinois University (SIU) School of Medicine in Springfield, Illinois, USA.  The focus of his research is on genetic and hormonal control of aging in mammals.  His current work is aimed at identifying mechanisms that link reduced growth hormone action with delayed aging and extended longevity.  For this work, he is using mutant mice that live longer than normal mice and show various symptoms of delayed aging, including retention of cognitive function and protection from age-related disease.

His career includes work at the Jangiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, the University of Texas Health Center at San Antonio, and SIU-Carbondale.  He is a past president of the Society for the Study of Reproduction, the American Society of Andrology and the American Aging Association.  Dr. Bartke has published more than 750 research papers, review articles and book chapters dealing with reproductive endocrinology, prolactin, growth hormone and aging, and has received numerous awards, in addition to 45 years of continuous NIH funding.

His laboratory was the first to show that mutation of a single gene can extend mammalian longevity and to suggest that the remarkable increase in the lifespan of Ames dwarf mice is due to growth hormone (GH) deficiency.  During the last 20 years his lab has extensively characterized phenotypic characteristics of long-lived hypopituitary and GH-resistant mice.  Contributions of his group to reproductive endocrinology and the hormonal and genetic control of aging include nearly 600 peer reviewed publications and more than 150 book chapters and review articles.  According to the Web of Science Alert, his work has been cited on an average of 490 times per year since 1975 and more than 774 times per year since 2004.