Leonard Guarente, PhD
Novartis Professor of Biology, MIT; Director, Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at MIT · InsideTracker
MIT Novartis Professor and sirtuin pioneer advising the personalized blood, DNA, and wearables analytics platform
About
Lenny Guarente, PhD is the Novartis Professor of Biology at MIT and director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at MIT — and one of the foundational figures in modern aging biology. His MIT lab pivoted from yeast gene regulation to the genetics of aging in 1991, and over the next decade defined the field: identifying SIR2 as an NAD+-dependent deacetylase linking metabolism to lifespan, showing that SIR2 and NAD+ are required for calorie-restriction-driven longevity, and extending the work from yeast to C. elegans. David Sinclair — also on InsideTracker's Scientific Advisory Board — was his postdoc. Guarente co-founded Elixir Pharmaceuticals (1999) and is co-founder and Chief Scientist at Elysium Health (2014–present). On InsideTracker's SAB, he is an advisor; his primary affiliations remain MIT and Elysium.
What to Know
Signature approach
Guarente’s work anchors the NAD+, sirtuin, and caloric-restriction biology behind much of modern longevity science. His MIT lab helped establish how nutrient sensing connects metabolism, stress resistance, and lifespan. For InsideTracker, that lens supports the broader idea that lifestyle inputs like nutrition, sleep, and exercise can shift measurable biology over time.
What sets them apart
- Foundational sirtuin work. Identified SIR2 as an NAD+-dependent deacetylase (Imai et al., Nature 2000) — the mechanistic link between metabolism and lifespan that the modern NAD+ supplement industry rests on.
- Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at MIT since the center's founding in 2008.
- Founder & Chief Scientist of Elysium Health (2014–present), the NAD+-precursor supplement company — and previously co-founder of Elixir Pharmaceuticals.
- Trained the field. Doctoral students include Brian K. Kennedy and Matt Kaeberlein; David Sinclair was a postdoc in his lab.
Affiliations
Scientific Advisor
Thought Leadership
Books
- Ageless Quest: One Scientist's Search for Genes That Prolong Youth · 2003
Publications
- Transcriptional silencing and longevity protein Sir2 is an NAD-dependent histone deacetylase · Nature, 2000
- Requirement of NAD and SIR2 for life-span extension by calorie restriction in Saccharomyces cerevisiae · Science, 2000
- Increased dosage of a sir-2 gene extends lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans · Nature, 2001
- The SIR2/3/4 complex and SIR2 alone promote longevity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by two different mechanisms · Genes & Development, 1999
- The brain, sirtuins, and ageing · Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2017
Notable Collaborators
- David Sinclair, PhD · Postdoc in the Guarente lab in the 1990s; developed the calorie-restriction-via-sirtuin-activation hypothesis. Also on InsideTracker's Scientific Advisory Board.
- Cynthia Kenyon, PhD · UCSF aging biologist (daf-2 / C. elegans lifespan); co-founded Elixir Pharmaceuticals with Guarente in 1999.
- Brian K. Kennedy, PhD · Doctoral student in the Guarente lab; first author on the 1995 Cell paper identifying SIR4 as a longevity regulator.
- Matt Kaeberlein, PhD · Doctoral student in the Guarente lab; first author on the 1999 Genes & Development paper on SIR2/3/4 and longevity.
Other specialists at InsideTracker
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