Prof. Alberto Diaspro

Aging is believed to be a nonadaptive process that escapes the force of natural selection. Here, we challenge this dogma by showing that yeast laboratory strains and strains isolated from grapes undergo an age- and pH-dependent death with features of mammalian programmed cell death (apoptosis). After 90–99% of the population dies, a small mutant subpopulation uses the nutrients released by dead cells to grow. This adaptive regrowth is inversely correlated with protection against superoxide toxicity and life span and is associated with elevated age-dependent release of nutrients and increased mutation frequency. Computational simulations confirm that premature aging together with a relatively high mutation frequency can result in a major advantage in adaptation to changing environments. These results suggest that under conditions that model natural environments, yeast organisms undergo an altruistic and premature aging and death program, mediated in part by superoxide. The role of similar pathways in the regulation of longevity in organisms ranging from yeast to mice raises the possibility that mammals may also undergo programmed aging.

About Me

Alberto Diaspro is Director of the Department of Nanophysics at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Deputy Director of IIT, Chair of the Nikon Imaging Center at IIT, Full Professor of Applied Physics at Department of Physics of Genoa University, Academic of the Ligurian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He is member of the New York Academy of Sciences. He was President of OWLS, EBSA, and ICO Appointed Vice President. He founded the Laboratory for Advanced Microscopy, Bioimaging, and Spectroscopy (LAMBS) in 2003. AD designed and realized the 1st Italian multiphoton microscope (1999) and a hybrid artificial “nanobiorobot” (2000--2005). He directed the design and realization of the 1st Italian nanoscopy architecture at IIT (2008). AD published more than 400 articles, has 14000 citations, with H=56 (source: Google Scholar). He is Editor in Chief of Microscopy Research and Technique. AD is SPIE fellow and an IEEE and OSA senior member. AD received the Emily M. Gray Award in 2014 and the Award for Scientific Communication by the Italian Physical Society in 2019. Since 2016, AD is President of the Scientific Council of “Festival of Science” (www.festivalscienza.it).

Prof. Alberto Diaspro

Prof. Alberto Diaspro

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About Me