Rafael de Cabo

Impact

Rafael de Cabo leads research at the US National Institute on Aging on how nutritional and pharmacological interventions affect the basic biology of ageing. He is a senior investigator and Chief of the NIA's Translational Gerontology Branch, where his Experimental Gerontology Section combines whole-body physiology with tissue-level molecular work in mice and rhesus monkeys. Over more than two decades his group has published widely cited studies on caloric restriction, time-restricted feeding and intermittent fasting, and on candidate geroprotective compounds including resveratrol and other sirtuin-activating compounds, metformin and disulfiram. Recent work has examined how fasting duration interacts with caloric restriction in female mice (Cell Metabolism, 2023), whether taurine is a biomarker of ageing (Science, 2025), and how calorie restriction and exercise interact in a breast cancer model (PNAS, 2026). His stated aim is to identify interventions that extend both healthspan and lifespan with translational potential for humans. His honours include the American Federation for Aging Research Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction (2023).

Metrics

• h-index 132 · google scholar as of 2026-09-23 source ↗

Research output

509 works · 56,974 citations · h-index 117 OpenAlex ↗

Selected publications

• Resveratrol improves health and survival of mice on a high-calorie diet ↗ 2006 · 4,281 citations
• Calorie Restriction Promotes Mammalian Cell Survival by Inducing the SIRT1 Deacetylase ↗ 2004 · 1,938 citations
• Suppression of Oxidative Stress by β-Hydroxybutyrate, an Endogenous Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor ↗ 2012 · 1,788 citations
• Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease ↗ 2019 · 1,622 citations
• SIRT1 Is Required for AMPK Activation and the Beneficial Effects of Resveratrol on Mitochondrial Function ↗ 2012 · 1,608 citations

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