Prof David Vilchez Guerrero; CECAD, University Hospital of Cologne
David Vilchez is a Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the University of Cologne (Germany). Before joining the University of Cologne, he was a Postdoc at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and the Salk Institute for Biological Research, USA. His group is part of the CECAD Excellence Cluster which brings together basic researchers and clinicians to study molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying aging and age-related diseases. David Vilchez's group studies the regulation of protein homeostasis in immortal stem cells and its demise in age-related diseases. His lab also uses the invertebrate C. elegans to define regulatory mechanisms of aging and protein homeostasis at the organismal level.
Extreme low temperatures are detrimental, but a moderate decrease in body temperature can have beneficial effects for the organism. In fact, lowering body temperature extends longevity in both poikilotherms (for example Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, and distinct fish species) and homeotherms such as rodents. For instance, C. elegans lives for a shorter period of time when shifted from the standard temperature (20 °C) to warmer temperatures, whereas exposure to low temperature (15 °C) induces a remarkable lifespan extension. Here I will talk about the effects of moderate cold temperature in reproductive aging. Moreover, I will discuss our recent findings on how cold temperature influences proteostasis and its effects on disease-related protein aggregation in worm and human cell models.
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