In the Media

The MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor added Janis Coates to its board of trustees. Coates is executive director of Island Readers & Writers in Southwest Harbor.

A few simple genetic changes is all it takes to prolong a worm’s life span by 500 percent, a new study has found.

Scientists have identified synergistic cellular pathways for longevity that amplify lifespan fivefold in C. elegans, a nematode worm used as a model in aging research. The increase in lifespan would be the equivalent of a human living for 400 or 500 years, according to one of the scientists.

The study of therapies and interventions to expand healthy human lifespan has been limited by a lack of animal models: traditional vertebrate models such as the mouse live too long to get rapid results, while the most popular model, a roundworm called C.elegans that lives for only three weeks, is rungs away from humans on the evolutionary ladder.

Thanks to a $75,000 grant from The Cotswold Foundation, the MDI Biological Laboratory will add the African turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri) to its growing roster of animal models.

Thanks to a $75,000 grant from The Cotswold Foundation, the MDI Biological Laboratory will add the African turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri) to its growing roster of animal models.

Thanks to a $75,000 grant from The Cotswold Foundation, the MDI Biological Laboratory will add the African turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri) to its growing roster of animal models.

Thanks to a $75,000 grant from The Cotswold Foundation, the MDI Biological Laboratory will add the African turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri) to its growing roster of animal models.