Aric Rogers

Education

• University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2006, PhD

Overview

DR ARIC ROGERS is Assistant Professor of Regenerative Biology and Medicine at MDI Biological Laboratory. He was born and grew up near Seattle, Washington. He received his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In 2005, he began postdoctoral research at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging under the guidance of Dr. Pankaj Kapahi. His studies focused on adaptive mechanisms responsible for lifespan extension when mRNA translation is genetically attenuated. He discovered that restricting a nutrient-responsive translation factor, while globally reducing total protein synthesis, enhanced relative translation rates of pro-longevity genes. Furthermore, he showed that some of these longevity factors were required for increased lifespan when translation is restricted.

In 2013, he started his own lab at the MDI Biological Laboratory. Currently, the lab uses the small roundworm C. elegans and the short-lived killifish N. furzeri to study how gene expression is remodeled under conditions that extend lifespan, particularly at points of regulation that occur after transcription. Genetic variations and environmental conditions that result in lifespan extension are also associated with delaying the onset of age-related diseases including diabetes, cancer, and neurodegeneration. The goal of his lab is to understand how life-extending interventions work across different species and apply what is learned to extend human health and longevity. Current research projects are focused on understanding how environmental changes, such as exposure to physical stress or nutrient restriction, remodel post-transcriptional gene expression as part of an evolutionarily conserved adaptive response to increase survival. This is key to understanding how interventions like dietary restriction or direct attenuation of translation factor gene expression are able to increase lifespan and organismal homeostasis.

Research Areas

• Aging
• Molecular and Cellular Biology
• Stress Response and Adaptation

Selected Publications

• Exportin 1 modulates life span by regulating nucleolar dynamics via the autophagy protein LGG-1/GABARAP. Kumar AV, Kang T, Thakurta TG, Ng C, Rogers AN, Larsen MR, Lapierre LR. Sci Adv. 2022 Apr;8(13):eabj1604. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abj1604. Epub 2022 Apr 1.
• Anabolic Function Downstream of TOR Controls Trade-offs Between Longevity and Reproduction at the Level of Specific Tissues in C. elegans. Howard AC, Mir D, Snow S, Horrocks J, Sayed H, Ma Z, Rogers AN. Front Aging. 2021 Sep;2:725068. doi: 10.3389/fragi.2021.725068. Epub 2021 Sep 10.
• The ribosomal RNA m5C methyltransferase NSUN-1 modulates healthspan and oogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans. Heissenberger C, Rollins JA, Krammer TL, Nagelreiter F, Stocker I, Wacheul L, Shpylovyi A, Tav K, Snow S, Grillari J, Rogers AN, Lafontaine DLJ, Schosserer M. Elife. 2020 Dec 8;9:e56205. doi: 10.7554/eLife.56205.
• Translational Regulation of Non-autonomous Mitochondrial Stress Response Promotes Longevity. Lan J, Rollins JA, Zang X, Wu D, Zou L, Wang Z, Ye C, Wu Z, Kapahi P, Rogers AN, Chen D. Cell Rep. 2019 Jul 23;28(4):1050-1062.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.06.078.
• Dietary restriction induces posttranscriptional regulation of longevity genes. Rollins JA, Shaffer D, Snow SS, Kapahi P, Rogers AN. Life Sci Alliance. 2019 Jun 28;2(4):e201800281. doi: 10.26508/lsa.201800281. Print 2019 Aug.
• A Novel Caenorhabditis Elegans Proteinopathy Model Shows Changes in mRNA Translational Frameshifting During Aging. Adamla F, Rollins J, Newsom M, Snow S, Schosserer M, Heissenberger C, Horrocks J, Rogers AN, Ignatova Z. Cell Physiol Biochem. 2019;52(5):970-983. doi: 10.33594/000000067.
• Assessing Health Span in Caenorhabditis elegans: Lessons From Short-Lived Mutants. Rollins JA, Howard AC, Dobbins SK, Washburn EH, Rogers AN. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2017 Apr 1;72(4):473-480. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glw248.
• Loss of eif-2alpha phosphorylation on S49 (mammalian S51) associated with the integrated stress response hastens development in C. elegans. Rollins J, Lind N, Rogers AN. MicroPubl Biol. 2017;2017:10.17912/W2BM1S. doi: 10.17912/W2BM1S.
• Reducing translation through eIF4G/IFG-1 improves survival under ER stress that depends on heat shock factor HSF-1 in Caenorhabditis elegans. Howard AC, Rollins J, Snow S, Castor S, Rogers AN. Aging Cell. 2016 Dec;15(6):1027-1038. doi: 10.1111/acel.12516. Epub 2016 Aug 18.
• mTORC1/C2 and pan-HDAC inhibitors synergistically impair breast cancer growth by convergent AKT and polysome inhibiting mechanisms. Wilson-Edell KA, Yevtushenko MA, Rothschild DE, Rogers AN, Benz CC. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2014 Apr;144(2):287-298. doi: 10.1007/s10549-014-2877-y. Epub 2014 Feb 22.
• Role of translation initiation factor 4G in lifespan regulation and age-related health. Howard A, Rogers AN. Ageing Res Rev. 2014 Jan;13:115-24. doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2013.12.008. Epub 2014 Jan 3.
• Life span extension via eIF4G inhibition is mediated by posttranscriptional remodeling of stress response gene expression in C. elegans. Rogers AN, Chen D, McColl G, Czerwieniec G, Felkey K, Gibson BW, Hubbard A, Melov S, Lithgow GJ, Kapahi P. Cell Metab. 2011 Jul 6;14(1):55-66. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2011.05.010.

Grants