Impact
Gordon Lithgow studies how small drug-like molecules can re-engage protective homeostatic mechanisms, particularly protein homeostasis, to extend lifespan and delay disease, using the nematode C. elegans and follow-up studies in mice. With Simon Melov he co-authored a 2000 Science paper reporting lifespan extension in C. elegans with superoxide dismutase/catalase mimetics, described by the Academy of Geroscience as the first use of a drug-like molecule to extend lifespan in an animal. His group later showed that amyloid-binding compounds maintain protein homeostasis during ageing and extend worm lifespan (Nature, 2011). In 2007 he led a federally funded Interdisciplinary Research Consortium on Geroscience at the Buck Institute, and the Academy of Geroscience credits him with coining the term "geroscience" for research connecting ageing biology and chronic disease. His lab is also involved in the multi-site Caenorhabditis Intervention Testing Program. Trained in genetics at the University of Glasgow, he started his lab at the University of Manchester before moving to the Buck Institute in 2000. He has received a Glenn Award, an Ellison Medical Foundation senior scholarship and the Tenovus Award, and has served on the National Institute on Aging's Board of Scientific Counselors.
Metrics
- h-index 60 · google scholar as of 2026-09-23 source ↗
Research output
190 works · 16,292 citations · h-index 54 OpenAlex ↗
Selected publications
- Geroscience: Linking Aging to Chronic Disease ↗ 2014 · 2,844 citations
- From discoveries in ageing research to therapeutics for healthy ageing ↗ 2019 · 1,451 citations
- Extension of Life-Span with Superoxide Dismutase/Catalase Mimetics ↗ 2000 · 917 citations
- Thermotolerance and extended life-span conferred by single-gene mutations and induced by thermal stress. ↗ 1995 · 877 citations
- Long live FOXO : unraveling the role of FOXO proteins in aging and longevity ↗ 2015 · 744 citations
Research funding
50 NIH awards · USD 30M total NIH RePORTER ↗
- A temporal bioenergetic, metabolomics, and proteomic map of Alzheimer's disease in invertebrate models National Institute on Aging · 2017 · USD 3M
- The University of Southern California and Buck Institute Nathan Shock Center National Institute on Aging · 2023 · USD 923K
- The University of Southern California and Buck Institute Nathan Shock Center National Institute on Aging · 2024 · USD 923K
- The University of Southern California and Buck Institute Nathan Shock Center National Institute on Aging · 2022 · USD 923K
- The University of Southern California and Buck Institute Nathan Shock Center National Institute on Aging · 2021 · USD 923K