Gino Cortopassi, PhD - Project Lead
Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine
gcortopassi@ucdavis.edu
530-304-6810
https://biology.ucdavis.edu/people/gino-cortopassi

Gino Cortopassi has been studying mitochondrial and metabolic contributions to aging and longevity since 1990, demonstrating decay of mitochondrial genomes in the brain and other less mitotic tissues. He has investigated the healthy aging benefits of genetic Shc depletion and possible pharmacologic Shc inhibitors, and the benefits of activating mitochondrial function to delay age-related losses of function.

Key Investigators: Alexey Tomilov, PhD, Elena Dedkova, PhD, DVM, Chase Garcia, BS, Jose Alberto Sandoval, BS, Claire Benavides Montgomery, BS

Project Summary:
The isocaloric Ketogenic Diet (KD) has been demonstrated to extend cognitive, memory and muscle function in aging, and longevity itself in mice (Rogers et al. 2017).  Also, mice with depletion of Shc proteins have been demonstrated to have a more ketogenic metabolism (Hagopian, et al., 2012). Thus our goals are to understand the mechanism of benefit of the isocaloric ketogenic diet in the context of aging and Alzheimer's disease, and to understand if 'ketodrugs' including Shc inhibitors and other molecules that engage the targets of the KD such HCA2 extend function in the context of Alzheimer's disease and aging.