Jarod Rollins, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Education
- Ph.D., University of Cologne, Genetics, 2012
- M.S., Dresden University of Technology, Molecular Bioengineering, 2007
- B.S., University of Maine at Orono, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2001
The Rollins Laboratory wants to enable people to enjoy longer, healthier lives. A recent revolution in aging research has led to the discovery that the activity of single genes can control the rate at which we age. We are building on this revolution by studying how life-extending interventions like dietary restriction regulate gene expression to help protect our cells and tissues from declining with age. We use the roundworm, C. elegans, as a model organism to study human aging, as roundworms share many of their genes with us and because their short lifespans allow us to rapidly test for interventions that extend longevity.
Gene expression is regulated on multiple levels: by transcription rates of DNA into mRNA copies, by recruitment of mRNA to the ribosome to be translated into proteins and by the degradation rates of the mRNA or protein products. We have previously shown that when C. elegans are treated with dietary restriction, many longevity genes are regulated exclusively on the level of translation. Protein translation is made possible by the ribosome, an intricate molecular machine comprised of multiple proteins. Our current work explores how regulation of longevity genes occurs under dietary restriction by investigating how the protein composition of the ribosome determines which mRNAs are selected for translation and which are not.
Anti-aging: the worms that may help us live longer, healthier lives
The Observer UK · January 5, 2021
Teaching Old Cells New Tricks: Insights Into Molecular-Level Aging
NIH/NIGMS Biomedical Beat · December 2, 2020
The Aging Mind: A Team Approach to Understanding the Relationship Between Aging, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease
Breaking Through · November 18, 2020
MDI Biological Laboratory hosts 2020 National Science Foundation Fellows
Bangor Daily News · August 11, 2020
‘The Molecular Machine Between Diet and Longevity’ to be subject of online Science Café
Press Release · May 29, 2020
MDI Biological Laboratory’s Science Café series moves online
Press Release · May 11, 2020
Electric Vehicle charging station installed at MDI Biological Laboratory as part of Downeast EV corridor
Press Release · March 2, 2020
Cellular & Anti-aging Biology
Biotechnology Kiosk · February 18, 2020
Synergistic Cellular Pathways Identified That Extend Lifespan by 500%
SciTechDaily · February 5, 2020
Scientists Find Mechanism That Extends Worm Lifespans by 500 Percent
Microsoft News · January 26, 2020
Advances in Quest for Immortality
The Guardian · January 23, 2020
Pathways That Extend Lifespan by 500 Percent Identified
Free Republic · January 21, 2020
Biological Pathways Which Boost Lifespan Identified
Digital Journal · January 17, 2020
Pathways That Extend Lifespan by 500 Percent Identified
Health Medicine Network · January 15, 2020
Researchers Identify Cellular Pathways that Extend Lifespan by 500%
Technology.org · January 14, 2020
Want to Live 400 Years? These Simple Nematode Worms Might Show Humans How
SyFyWire · January 14, 2020
Biologists Extend Worm Lifespan by 500% in Surprising Discovery on Aging
Big Think · January 13, 2020
MDI Biological Scientists Identify Pathways That Extend Lifespan by 500 Percent
TerraDaily · January 13, 2020
Scientists Find Mechanism That Extends Worm Lifespans by 500 Percent – ScienceAlert
Trending News Blog · January 12, 2020
Sunday Snippets: Scientists Discover Cellular Pathways They Say Could Extend Human Life to 500 Years
Daily Kos · January 12, 2020
Scientists Find Mechanism That Extends Worm Lifespans by 500 Percent
Release Soon · January 11, 2020
Path-breaking Discovery to Slow Down Ageing Process in Future
Big News Network.com · January 11, 2020
Scientists Extend Animal's Lifespan by 500 Percent
Click Lancashire · January 11, 2020
Breakthrough Pathways Can Extend Lifespan by 500%
Tech Explorist · January 11, 2020
Extending Lifespan by 500 Percent
Fars News Agency (Iran) · January 11, 2020
Using Worms, Bar Harbor Scientists Make Discovery That Could Extend Human Life to 500 Years
Bangor Daily News · January 10, 2020
Maine Researchers Made Tiny Worms Live Longer, Discovery Could Help Humans Live 500 Years
WPFO Fox 23 Maine · January 10, 2020
Scientists Find Mechanism That Extends Worm Lifespans by 500 Percent
Science Alert · January 10, 2020
Path-breaking Discovery to Slow Down Ageing Process in Future
Asian News International · January 10, 2020
Path-breaking Discovery to Slow Down Ageing Process in Future
Business Standard · January 10, 2020
Biologists Identify Pathways That Extend Lifespan by 500%
phys.org · January 9, 2020
Scientists Have Extended the Lifespan of These Animals by 500 Percent
Head Topics · January 9, 2020
Scientists Expand The Lifespan Of A Worm By 500 Percent – The Equivalent Of 400 Years In Humans
IFL Science · January 9, 2020
Pathways That Extend Lifespan by 500% Identified
MedicallyPrime.com · January 9, 2020
Pathways That Extend Lifespan by 500% Identified
Health Medicine Network · January 9, 2020
Researchers Identify Synergistic Cellular Pathways That Considerably Amplify Lifespan
News Medical: Life Sciences · January 9, 2020
Scientists Extend Lifespan of Worms by 500 Percent
Futurism.com · January 9, 2020
Pathways That Extend Lifespan by 500% Identified: Study
Medindia · January 9, 2020
Pathways Identified in Worms That Extend Lifespan by 500%
Technology Networks · January 9, 2020
MDI Biological Scientists Identify Pathways That Extend Lifespan by 500%
7thSpace · January 9, 2020
Biologists Identify Pathways That Extend Lifespan by 500%
phys.org · January 9, 2020
Scientists Have Extended the Lifespan of These Animals by 500 Percent
Newsweek · January 9, 2020
Pathways That Extend Lifespan by 500% Identified
LongRoom News · January 8, 2020
Worm Lifespans Extended 500 Percent in Surprising New Aging Study
New Atlas · January 8, 2020
MDI Biological Scientists Identify Pathways That Extend Lifespan by 500 Percent
Press Release · January 8, 2020
Newsworthy People and Performances for Nov. 11, 2019
Mainebiz · November 17, 2019
Eating Less Can Prolong Life; Drugs Could Mimic Effect
Mount Desert Islander · October 25, 2019
Genetische Mechanismen des Alterns Aufgeklärt
Pharmazeutische Zeitung · October 17, 2019
Scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory Are Decoding the Genetic Mechanisms of Aging and the Role of Dietary Restriction
Regen Health Solutions · October 16, 2019
Scientists are Trying to Find Ways to Slow Down the Process of Aging
Tribune Byte · October 12, 2019
Des Chercheurs Décodent le Mécanisme du Vieillissement
Pourquoi Docteur · October 12, 2019
Genetic Mechanisms Could Serve As a Road Map for Screening New Drugs to Prolong Healthy Lifespan
Ciencias Medicas News · October 12, 2019
Is Any Drug Possible in Future to Prolong Healthy Lifespan?
Discourse on Development · October 11, 2019
Decoding the Genetic Mechanisms of Aging
Technology Networks · October 11, 2019
Scientists Are Decoding the Genetic Mechanisms of Aging
Health Medicine Network · October 11, 2019
Scientists Are Decoding the Genetic Mechanisms of Aging
Science Daily · October 10, 2019
Scientists Are Decoding the Genetic Mechanisms of Aging
Phys.org · October 10, 2019
Genetic Mechanisms Could Serve As a Road Map for Screening New Drugs to Prolong Healthy Lifespan
News Medical: Life Sciences · October 10, 2019
Scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory Are Decoding the Genetic Mechanisms of Aging
Bio-IT World · October 10, 2019
Scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory Are Decoding the Genetic Mechanisms of Aging
Bioengineer.org · October 10, 2019
Scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory Are Decoding the Genetic Mechanisms of Aging
BrightSurf.com · October 10, 2019
Scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory Are Decoding the Genetic Mechanisms of Aging
Press Release · October 10, 2019
Do You Want to Live Longer? Maine Scientists Score $12M to Further Study to Find the Secret
News Center Maine · July 6, 2018
MDI Biological Lab President Kevin Strange Awarded $12M Grant
Mainebiz · July 2, 2018
MDI Biological Laboratory Awarded $12 Million NIH Grant
Press Release · June 28, 2018
Living Long, But Living Well
BioTechniques · June 20, 2017
Living Long and Living Well: is it Possible to Do Both?
Regenerative Medicine Network · June 8, 2017
Living Long and Living Well: Is It Possible to Do Both?
Press Release · June 5, 2017
- Rollins, J.A., Howard, A.C., Dobbins, S.K., Washburn, E.H., and Rogers, A.N. (2017). Assessing Health
Span in Caenorhabditis elegans: Lessons From Short-Lived Mutants. The Journals of Gerontology:
Series A. - Rollins, J., and Rogers, A. (2017). Translational Control of Longevity. In Ageing: Lessons from C.
Elegans, (Springer International Publishing), pp. 285–305. - Howard, A.C., Rollins, J., Snow, S., Castor, S., and Rogers, A.N. (2016). Reducing translation through
eIF4G/IFG-1 improves survival under ER stress that depends on heat shock factor HSF-1 in
Caenorhabditis elegans. Aging Cell 15, 1027–1038. - Rollins, J., Habte, E., Templer, S., Colby, T., Schmidt, J., and Von Korff, M. (2013). Leaf proteome
alterations in the context of physiological and morphological responses to drought and heat stress in
barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Journal of Experimental Botany 64, 3201–3212. - Rollins, J.A., Drosse, B., Mulki, M., Grando, S., Baum, M., Singh, M., Ceccarelli, S., and von Korff, M.
(2013). Variation at the vernalisation genes Vrn-H1 and Vrn-H2 determines growth and yield stability in
barley (Hordeum vulgare) grown under dryland conditions in Syria. Theoretical and Applied Genetics
126, 2803–2824. - Sapra, A.K., Änkö, M.-L., Grishina, I., Lorenz, M., Pabis, M., Poser, I., Rollins, J., Weiland, E.-M., and
Neugebauer, K.M. (2009). SR protein family members display diverse activities in the formation of
nascent and mature mRNPs in vivo. Molecular Cell 34, 179–190. - Stylianou, I.M., Affourtit, J.P., Shockley, K.R., Wilpan, R.Y., Abdi, F.A., Bhardwaj, S., Rollins, J.,
Churchill, G.A., and Paigen, B. (2008). Applying gene expression, proteomics and single-nucleotide
polymorphism analysis for complex trait gene identification. Genetics 178, 1795–1805. - Matteson, P.G., Desai, J., Korstanje, R., Lazar, G., Borsuk, T.E., Rollins, J., Kadambi, S., Joseph, J.,
Rahman, T., Wink, J., et al. (2008). The orphan G protein-coupled receptor, Gpr161, encodes the
vacuolated lens locus and controls neurulation and lens development. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences 105, 2088–2093. - Korstanje, R., Desai, J., Lazar, G., King, B., Rollins, J., Spurr, M., Joseph, J., Kadambi, S., Li, Y.,
Cherry, A., et al. (2008). Quantitative trait loci affecting phenotypic variation in the vacuolated lens
mouse mutant, a multigenic mouse model of neural tube defects. Physiological Genomics 35, 296–304. - Chen, Y., Rollins, J., Paigen, B., and Wang, X. (2007). Genetic and genomic insights into the molecular
basis of atherosclerosis. Cell Metabolism 6, 164–179. - Ishimori, N., Li, R., Walsh, K.A., Korstanje, R., Rollins, J.A., Petkov, P., Pletcher, M.T., Wiltshire, T.,
Donahue, L.R., Rosen, C.J., et al. (2006). Quantitative trait loci that determine BMD in C57BL/6J and
129S1/SvImJ inbred mice. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research 21, 105–112. - Rollins, J., Chen, Y., Paigen, B., and Wang, X. (2006). In search of new targets for plasma high-density
lipoprotein cholesterol levels: promise of human–mouse comparative genomics. Trends in Cardiovascular
Medicine 16, 220–234. - Lyons, M.A., Korstanje, R., Li, R., Sheehan, S.M., Walsh, K.A., Rollins, J.A., Carey, M.C., Paigen, B.,
and Churchill, G.A. (2005). Single and interacting QTLs for cholesterol gallstones revealed in an
intercross between mouse strains NZB and SM. Mammalian Genome 16, 152–163. - Wang, X., Ria, M., Kelmenson, P.M., Eriksson, P., Higgins, D.C., Samnegaard, A., Petros, C., Rollins,
J., Bennet, A.M., Wiman, B., et al. (2005). Positional identification of TNFSF4, encoding OX40 ligand,
as a gene that influences atherosclerosis susceptibility. Nature Genetics 37, 365–372. - Wang, X., Ishimori, N., Korstanje, R., Rollins, J., and Paigen, B. (2005). Identifying novel genes for
atherosclerosis through mouse-human comparative genetics. The American Journal of Human Genetics
77, 1–15. - Korstanje, R., Eriksson, P., Samnegaard, A., Olsson, P.G., Forsman-Semb, K., Sen, S., Churchill, G.A.,
Rollins, J., Harris, S., Hamsten, A., et al. (2004). Locating Ath8, a locus for murine atherosclerosis
susceptibility and testing several of its candidate genes in mice and humans. Atherosclerosis 177,
443–450.
| Gene expression is regulated on multiple levels: by transcription rates of DNA into mRNA copies, by recruitment of mRNA to the ribosome to be translated into proteins and by the degradation rates of the mRNA or protein products. Dr. Rollins and collaborators have previously shown that when C. elegans are treated with dietary restriction, many longevity genes are regulated exclusively on the level of translation. Protein translation is made possible by the ribosome, an intricate molecular machine comprised of multiple proteins. Undergraduate Research Fellows will explore how regulation of longevity genes occurs under dietary restriction by investigating how the protein composition of the ribosome determines which mRNAs are selected for translation and which are not. |
Benjamin Garthoff: Research Assistant I
Benjamin Garthoff is a Maine native and a graduate of the University of Maine at Augusta, where he received his undergraduate degree in general biology. Prior to joining the MDI Biological Laboratory, Garthoff was employed as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) for nearly two years at a nursing home for dementia patients. At the MDI Biological Laboratory, he was the first hire in the Rollins lab and is responsible for general maintenance of the lab, C. elegans lifespan and thermotolerance assays and molecular biology experiments. Garthoff’s long-term goals include exploring potential routes to graduate education and playing a bigger role in experimental design.