Dr Zixia Huang in search of human longevity
"Duplications of Human Longevity-Associated Genes Across Placental Mammals" is an article written by GDIC lecturer Dr Zixia Huang, recently printed in prestigious peer-review journal "Genome Biology and Evolution" published by Oxford University Press.
Natural selection has shaped a wide range of lifespans across mammals, with a few long-lived species showing negligible signs of ageing. Approaches used to elucidate the genetic mechanisms underlying mammalian longevity usually involve phylogenetic selection tests on candidate genes, detections of convergent amino acid changes in long-lived lineages, analyses of differential gene expression between age cohorts or species, and measurements of age-related epigenetic changes.
The full article can be read (opens in a new window)here.
Dr Huang is a Lecturer/Assistant Professor in the School of Biology and Environmental Science at UCD. His research interest entails the addressing of evolutionary questions across the animal kingdom through the integration of evolutionary biology, bioinformatics and functional genomics.