Associate Professor  

 

Research 

Andrew Dillin, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Associate Professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Director of the Glenn Center for Aging Research, uses the tiny roundworm Ceanorhabditis elegans to study the process of aging by looking at a hormone that is most widely recognized for its role in diabetes among humans: insulin. The insulin signaling pathway in worms is not only almost identical to that found in humans, but insulin also controls many physiological aspects in the worm’s body, including reproduction and aging. In humans, interfering with insulin/IGF-1 signaling to generate a life-prolonging benefit would lead to type 2 diabetes and possibly cancer. In worms, larval development and reproduction are affected along with longevity.


Some of Dillin’s earlier research had hinted at the possibility to genetically manipulate one element of the pathway without disrupting its additional functions, this led him to search for “specificity” factors that may control how and if insulin and IGF-1 impact a wide range of target genes. Recently, he and his team pinpointed a protein specifically responsible for extending lifespan and youthfulness without disrupting the worms’ response to some forms of stress, development and fertility controlled by the insulin signaling pathway.


Additionally, Dillin is interested in age-onset neurodegenerative diseases. Like most neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer’s disease usually appears late in life, raising the question of whether it is a direct and disastrous consequence of aging or if the toxic protein aggregates that cause the disease simply take a long time to form. He discovered that the harmful beta amyloid aggregates accumulate when aging impedes two molecular clean-up crews from getting rid of these toxic species. 

Education:

B.S., Biochemistry, University of Nevada, Reno
Ph.D., Molecular & Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley 

Awards and honors:

McKnight Neuroscience Fellow (2007-2010)

Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Award (2007-2009)

Pioneer Developmental Chair (2006-2008)

Ellison Medical Foundation Award (2004-2008)  

American Diabetes Association Junior Faculty Award (2004-2006)

Larry L. Hillblom Junior Faculty Award (2003-2006)

Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Postdoctoral Fellowship, UC San Francisco (1999-2002) 

Publications

Click here for selected publications